Chloride Copper Project - New picture found
Paul C. Rizzo Associates, Inc. (RIZZO) was retained by Sierra Resource Group (SIERRA) to assist in the planning and development of the Chloride Copper Project near Kingman, Arizona. The Project was formerly known as the Emerald Isle Copper Mine that produced copper from underground and open pit operations sporadically from 1915 to 1993. The most recent operation was that of mining copper oxide ore from an open pit and processing the ore through heap leach and solvent extraction-electro winning (SX/EW) technologies. SIERRA retained RIZZO to:
Develop a Project cost estimate and schedule for SIERRA to bring the mine back into operation
Provide necessary permitting support including preparation of a Mine Plan of Operation including Rights-of-Way applications, and Draft Environmental Assessment for acceptance by the U. S. Bureau of Land Management.
Provide 30% design report providing line diagrams and specifications for refurbishing the SX/EW plant
Provide 30% drawings for heap leach pad and associated process and contaminated runoff collection ponds.
Provide 30% drawings for expanding the open pit and reclamation of the pit and other facilities.
Assessment of known resources and a detailed assessment of “readily available ore” for initial mining (next 3 years) while preparing for expansion from 13,600 pounds of copper per day to 18,000 pounds per day.
In addition, RIZZO has provided considerable documentation to support SIERRA in their financing of the Project.
Background
SIERRA, a Nevada Corporation, owns the Emerald Isle Mine (now Chloride Copper Project). It is located within the Wallapai mining district, a 4 miles wide and 11 miles long mining district defined by the known lateral extent of base and precious metal veining. The Wallapai district is located in Mohave Co., Arizona. The mine property consists of 37 unpatented lode claims and 14 mill-site claims. The total area held by SIERRA amounts to approximately 156 acres. SIERRA, as the owner operator, intends to occupy the claims and develop the mine to extract copper (approximately 1,940,000 tons) from a defined readily available ore deposit. SIERRA intends to refurbish the existing SX/EW plant and construct a new heap leach pad to process and recover elemental copper from existing copper oxide ore from previously mined stockpiles and the upper portion of the open pit. Mining of readily available ore will occur with conventional ripping, excavation, and crushing techniques. The mine is planned to operate primarily within the footprint of past mining activities with minimal disturbance or incursions onto undisturbed parts of the site (less than 12 acres).
The Chloride Copper project highlights RIZZO’s experience with the following tasks:
Resource Assessment;
Environmental Permitting;
Civil Engineering including site layout;
Geotechnical Engineering including slope stability analysis;
Hydrology and Aquifer Studies;
Mine Process Engineering; and
Design Drawings and Specifications.
