Gold gains generate mining resurrection By JONATHAN ATHENS, Staff Writer
Saturday, April 7, 2007 9:11 PM PDT
TODD KRAININ PHOTO
Mining engineer Rudy Morales demonstrates his global positioning satellite system at the Mesquite Mine in the desert near Glamis.
GLAMIS It’s no secret the gold rush is on in Imperial County.
Only these miners aren’t grizzled men driven by dreams of striking it rich.
They don’t get paid in nuggets or dust.
And they don’t use pick axes and pans.
They get paid via paycheck the same as the rest of us.
And in order to get at the “gold in them thar’ hills,” these miners use a complex chemical process, sophisticated mapping technology, diesel-powered bulldozers and powerful drills.
In a matter of months, Toronto-based Western Goldfields Inc. expects to ramp up its Mesquite Mine operation here to 100 percent capacity.
The company is pouring close to $100 million dollars into making this possible, and it is optimistic that for the next nine and half years it will be able to produce enough gold to turn a solid profit 165,000 ounces per year. This means more jobs and more tax revenue for Imperial County.
The company’s revitalization of the Mesquite Mine is indicative of a worldwide resurgence in the gold market, some analysts say.
For the people who work at the mine, the company’s plans signal the end of hard times gold prices in 2001 plummeted to historic lows, forcing layoffs.
Now they’re betting gold, selling at $674 per ounce as of Thursday, will hit historic highs.
“We’re going to make it happen,” Cory Atiyeh, the mine’s general manager, said.
Atiyeh, of Yuma, is a Montana native who carries himself with the quiet confidence of a man determined to accomplish his mission.
THE OPERATION UP CLOSE
Atiyeh and mine process manager Arnold DeHerrera took the Imperial Valley Press on a tour of the Mesquite Mine, which is 35 miles east of Brawley near Glamis.
They pointed out various aspects of the mine’s operation drilling, pulverizing, analysis, chemical filtration and extraction.
It bears no resemblance, except for maybe kicking up dust, to the type of gold mining that is portrayed in Westerns.
The terrain looks like an alien landscape vast sections contain huge mounds of ore that look like mounds of pebble and dirt arranged in varying elevations.
At the top of one such section, Atiyeh pointed to a fenced off parcel of land below that is protected from any activity because that land bears a unique historical significance. It features a winding geoglyph thought to have been made by ancient Native Americans, wagon wheel tracks made by the first pioneers to arrive here, and tracks made by tank troops commanded by the legendary World War II Gen. George Patton.
But these are modern times. There are no bandits to fear, nor do miners distrust each other out of suspicion someone may cheat them out of their share.
This is not the Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
In the old days, mining engineers used mechanical surveyors and physically stretched string or metal tape to mark and define drill sites, establish trails for transporting ore and find places for ore piles.
Today, mining operations use a Global Positioning Satellite system.
Mining Engineer Rudy Morales put one of those stakes in the ground to illustrate how it works. He said he is able to pinpoint the mine’s layout right down to the centimeter.
“There’s nothing like mining,” Morales said of his job. “It’s something different every day.”
With regard to the gold, most people think of gold in terms of nuggets or sparkling dust. The gold these miners extract, Atiyeh said, is “microscopic” or “free gold.” It is less than 10 microns big, the same size as talcum powder.
After drilling, the cuttings are analyzed for their gold content but before it can be analyzed, the cuttings must be pulverized.
Shelby Frans is the guy literally told to go pound rocks.
And he does right down to a powder.
Frans, of Brawley, places the cuttings in a round metal drum and using a three-step process, turns the cuttings into a warm batch of powder.
Frans was one of the employees who was laid off in 2001 and is back at work.
“I get plenty of exercise,” Frans said of his job.
THE FUTURE
Atiyeh said the mine employs about 50 people and will have 220 employees by the time it moves into full speed, later this year.
The gold mine will start with two shifts operating six days a week and could possibly expand operations to three shifts working seven days per week, he said.
Geological analysis indicates the company will be able to extract 1.6 million ounces of gold from the mine in its life span.
Atiyeh said the company may able to extract more gold and continue mining past the projected life span of the mine if it is successful and if the company is able to get additional permits to continue.
Investors are paying close attention these days to gold mining and the market.
“Everyone is looking to make some money out of this,” said Carlos Sanchez, associate director of research for the New York-based CPM Group, a commodities research company.
Gold mine companies worldwide are expanding, revamping or restarting operations because gold is bouncing back, Sanchez said.
Part of the interest in gold as a commodity is driven by political uncertainty due to the conflicts in the Mideast and the fluctuating cost of oil, he said.
“What we expect to see, gold will move sideways in a wide range between $600-$700 (per ounce) this year,” he said.
“Investors have always looked at gold but nowadays there is a broad spectrum of investors looking at commodities and gold,” he said.
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