Successful Startup of Gold Production at Chandalar

 

SPOKANE, WA - Goldrich Mining Company reported the successful commissioning of its gold recovery plant and startup of alluvial gold production at its Chandalar property, located 200 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska.

The Company designed and fabricated a custom trommel-sluice gold recovery plant in Delta Junction, Alaska, which was transported to the site during July and then assembled on-site at the Company's test mining operation on Little Squaw Creek. Overburden from the test pit was removed during July and August. The testing and shakedown period of the processing plant commenced in mid-August, and the plant started processing gold-bearing gravel on August 21. All permits for the 2009 test mining are in place.

Currently, the operation is processing 500 to 700 bank cubic yards (bcy) per day, and recovering 4 to 6 ounces of gold per hour. The performance of the processing plant has been excellent, with more than 90% of the gold contained in the feed being recovered. The Company is encouraged to find that gold recovery is meeting or exceeding the predicted grade from the 2007 drill program. To date approximately 300 ounces of placer gold have been recovered.

Earlier this year, an independent registered mining engineer estimated that the Little Squaw Creek alluvial deposit contains an estimated 10.5 million bcy of "in place" mineralized material having an average grade of 0.0246 fine ounces of gold per bank cubic yard with a waste to ore stripping ratio of 1:1. The estimate was based on 93 six-inch reverse-air circulation drill holes spaced approximately 50 to 100 ft apart along drill lines perpendicular to the trend of the deposit typically located 500 ft apart. The limits of the mineralized material have not yet been fully defined by the drilling, and the deposit remains "open" to expansion in three directions.

The company’s address is 3412 South Lincoln Drive, Spokane, WA 99203, 509.624.5831, fax: 509.624.2878.