Funding Approved For Construction Of Gyratory Crusher At Hycroft Heap Leach Expansion 

RENO, NV - Allied Nevada Gold Corp. reported that Allied Nevada's Board of Directors has approved the capital spending of $20.7 million to complete detailed engineering and procurement of long-lead items in connection with accelerating construction of a large gyratory crusher and conveyance system to be utilized in the heap leach process.

"We are pleased to capitalize on synergies between the heap leach expansion and milling expansion projects," said Scott Caldwell, President and CEO. "Utilizing the crusher in the heap leach operation, when we already had the intention to build it as part of the milling expansion, allows us to rationalize our capital spending while improving overall heap leach recoveries for gold and silver." The Company is currently implementing a previously announced heap leach expansion consisting of increasing the mining rate by implementing a larger scale mining fleet, additional leach pad capacity and crushing 30% of the ore using semi-mobile crushing plants. In the previous plan, both run of mine and crushed ore were to be hauled and placed on the heap leach using trucks. The Company completed a positive economic analysis assuming construction of one of the gyratory crushers envisioned in the milling expansion to crush 100% of the ore and conveyance of crushed ore to the leach pads, in lieu of the purchase of additional semi-mobile crushing units and truck haulage. The result of this analysis presented a very robust project with an internal rate of return in excess of 30%. By accelerating the construction of the gyratory crusher, we are able to reduce life of mine capital spending by not purchasing the redundant semi-mobile crushers, while improving gold and silver recovery for crushed material by approximately 15% for gold and 24% for silver. The capital spending to complete detailed engineering, secure necessary permits and secure long-lead items, such as the main crushing components, is expected to take place over the next 16 months ($4.0 million in 2011 and $16.7 million in 2012). Subject to receipt of the necessary permits and Board approval, the Company intends to commence with construction of the gyratory crusher and conveyance system, with the goal of putting it into operation by mid-2013.