Infrastructure Upgrades at the French Gulch Mine

RENO, NV - Bullion River Gold Corp. after receipt of funding from a recent offering, will apply the funds towards additional exploration and infrastructure upgrades necessary to elevate the project located in Shasta County, California to greater production for long term profitability.
Over the course of the next few months, the company will undertake to complete additional exploration drilling along strike and down dip to expand the knowledge of the existing vein structures in the Washington Mine as well as explore for additional favorable structure to the north of the Washington Vein and its attendant veins. The drilling program will also test for the vertical extension at depth of the high grade Lucky 7 Vein, which rakes westward, as well as the Washington Vein structures. This information is vital to allow planning of the extension of the Main Decline. In addition, exploratory holes will be directed along the axis of the proposed Niagara Access to search for favorable structure along this drive. Some of the drilling will be used to search for and quantify fault displacements which are assumed to have truncated and displaced some of the vein structures.
Infrastructure upgrades include improvements to the site electrical system, the water treatment system and the mine backfill system.
The electrical system upgrade includes work by the local power utility to upgrade and extend the supply line to allow the line to carry the expected load for the mine and the mill. Onsite, new distribution switchgear and cabling will be installed to allow the mine and mill to operate continuouslyin all respects. For the mill, this will allow continuous and simultaneous operation of the crushing circuit and the milling circuit on a 24 hour per day basis. In the mine, the upgrade will permit the replacement of expensive diesel-generated power with adequate utility power to operate the required ventilation fan system, the water treatment system and additional compressed air capacity which is required for the desired expansion of the production capability. The diesel generator will be relegated to standby power status. This work will be completed over the next several months, subject to equipment delivery.
The water treatment system is a major part of the environmental protection program proposed in the revised operating and reclamation plan. The plant is intended to treat the water from the mine to produce an effluent product which exceeds the requirements of the Clean Water Act with respect to dissolved and suspended solids. Pilot plant work completed in 2007 indicates that the water produced in the mine can be treated to produce a high quality product nearly comparable to rainwater in purity. Such a product may be discharged to a local water course and will help dilute the existing stream levels of heavy metals and other dissolved solids.
The backfill system will utilize the mill tailings to fill the mined voids underground. This will allow efficient pillar recovery in the cut and fill mining plan and maximize recovery of the resource. It will also eliminate the need for a tailings repository on surface which represents a long term environmental concern. The mill tailings will be mixed with cement and transferred underground where they will be pumped into the available stopes to fill the voids. Once the cement sets the tailings are permanently sequestered below surface in a solid, chemically inert form. The waste rock in the mine is acid neutralizing. This is supplemented by the caustic nature of the cement. Working in concert, there is virtually no chance of generating metal-mobilizing acids from sulfide oxidation in the tailings. Additionally, at the end of mine life, when the mine fills with water after abandonment, the tailings will be permanently stored below water level, which is an ideal situation for long term storage. The cemented tailings will be chemically inert for an indefinite period and stored in the best situation possible. This system will be used to treat all the mill tailings, including those from recent operations, which have been temporarily stored on surface and are awaiting reclaiming efforts to move them underground for permanent storage. The backfill plant has been designed and awaits regulatory approval prior to procurement and construction.
The items listed above will be completed with existing forces and equipment onsite. This will detract from production in the short term but it is felt this represents the optimum use of resources as they exist. This will allow the current equipment fleet and labor force to remain as is. Additional equipment will then be procured once the infrastructure improvements are completed and production may be ramped up. This is in keeping with our cost control strategy and efficient application of resources.
Bullion River Gold has six properties, equally divided between California and Nevada. Of the Nevada properties, two are considered advanced projects and the third is considered grassroots. The three California properties are all past producers.
The company's address is 3500 Lakeside Court, Suite 200, Reno, NV 89509, (775) 324-4881, fax: (775) 324-7893, email: [email protected].