Equinox Gold Corp. reports that construction of the Phase 1 mine at its Castle Mountain Gold Mine in California is complete, irrigation of the leach pad is underway and first gold pour is expected in Q4-2020.
Equinox Gold commenced construction of the Phase 1 mine at Castle Mountain on October 30, 2019. Construction is complete with no lost-time incidents. Photos of the Phase 1 mine are included at the end of this news release. Equinox Gold commenced pre-production mining in early June and has stacked more than 1.4 million tonnes of ore on the leach pad to date. Commissioning of the plant is in the final stages and irrigation of the leach pad commenced on September 16, 2020. Loaded carbon from Castle Mountain will be processed in the carbon stripping and smelting plant at the Company’s Mesquite Mine, 200 miles south in California, resulting in increased operating efficiencies for both mines.
Christian Milau, CEO of Equinox Gold, commented: “Castle Mountain will be Equinox Gold’s seventh producing gold mine in the Americas and our second operating mine in California. We expect Castle Mountain to be a long-life flagship asset for Equinox Gold, bringing significant benefits to our workforce, shareholders, local communities and San Bernardino County.”
The 100%-owned Castle Mountain Phase 1 mine is a fully permitted, run-of-mine heap leach operation processing around 12,700 ore tonnes per day. Phase 1 is expected to produce on average 45,000 ounces of gold annually. The Company is completing a feasibility study for the potential Phase 2 expansion, which is expected to average 200,000 ounces of gold annually. The Phase 2 feasibility study is targeted for completion in Q4-2020.
Equinox Gold is a Canadian mining company with seven operating gold mines and a clear path to achieve one million ounces of annual gold production from a pipeline of development and expansion projects.
Castle Mountain Phase 1 heap leach pad (background) and processing facility (foreground)