Castle Mountain heap leach Credit: Equinox Gold
Equinox Gold’s Castle Mountain mine in California has declared commercial production. The open-pit, heap leach operation poured its first gold on Oct. 15 and is expected to generate 5,000 to 10,000 oz. of gold for the company this year. The company completed construction of the asset in mid-September.
In its first, 12,7000 t/d phase, Castle Mountain will churn out approximately 40,000 gold oz. annually. The miner is looking at an expansion of this asset, which could grow its output to 200,000 oz. a year – a feasibility study is expected in the first quarter of next year. This study will look at a 41,000 t/d run-of-mine heap leach, in addition to a carbon-in-leach milling circuit for higher-grade material.
