Air Quality Permit Modification For Florida Canyon To Allow Installation/Operation Of New Conveying And Stacking System

TORONTO - Argonaut Gold Inc. has received all necessary regulatory approvals, including a modification to the existing Air Quality permit, to allow for the construction, installation and operation of a new conveying and stacking system at its Florida Canyon mine in Nevada, USA.  The equipment associated with the conveying and stacking system is expected to begin arriving on site in May, and it is estimated that the new system will be operational and ramped up to design capacity during the third quarter of 2021.  The capital associated with the convey and stack project was included in Argonaut's 2021 capital guidance.    

Pete Dougherty, President and CEO, said, "When we acquired the Florida Canyon mine, we saw the opportunity to eliminate multiple re-handling of ore and significantly reduce the operating cost profile.  The receipt of the Air Quality Permit modification allows us to execute on our plan to lower cost and also raise the production profile at Florida Canyon.  Furthermore, the conveying and stacking system will be operated on grid power and eliminate the need to run diesel haul trucks from the crusher to the leach pads, which we expect will reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

During the fourth quarter 2020, the Company eliminated a re-handle of ore prior to the primary crusher by adding a drop box to the design.  Haul trucks now dump ore directly into a box that feeds into the primary crusher.  Prior to the addition of the drop box, the primary crusher had to be loader fed, which required haul trucks to dump ore on the ground, a dozer to push the ore into a pile and a loader to feed to the primary crusher.

Currently, once ore goes through the primary and secondary crushers, it is loaded into haul trucks with a front-end loader and delivered to the leach pads via haul trucks.  Argonaut identified potentially significant operating cost savings once it can eliminate the re-handle on the back end of the secondary crushing by switching to a conveying and stacking system to transport crushed ore to the leach pads. This change will also free up mobile equipment to transport more ore tonnes from the open pit to the crusher and is expected to increase the annual production profile at Florida Canyon beginning in 2022.