Shafter silver mine approaches production
March 22nd, 2012 under Top Stories
By MARK GLOVER
SHAFTER – Reports that a giant new vein of silver was discovered in Shafter weren’t completely denied by the Rio Grande Mining Company this week.
“I’ll wait until the press release is out,” said general manager Jason Cyr. “I’m not a Martha Stewart, you know.”
The mining company, owned by Aurcana Corp of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and organized as the Rio Grande Mining Co. in Shafter, is well on its way to production and have already hired 128 people and expect to hire another 30 or more.
“If God doesn’t send us a lightning bolt, we should be in production by June,” said Cyr.
The construction phase to complete and make the June date is at full bore.
“We’re 24/7 underground, 24/7 on the ground and 24/7 on the mill,” said Cyr. “It’s been going well and we’re extremely pleased to have hired a lot of skilled local man power.”
Cyr, who came from a nickel mine in northern Ontario, has been living in Alpine for the past year.
 A horizontal shaft at the Shafter silver mine. (photo by ALBERTO TOMAS HALPERN)
“It’s a challenge to get housing down here, but it’s a wonderful place,” he said.
According to Nils von Fersen in the Vancouver office, the feasibility study forecast a $45 million dollar construction budget.
“We’re doing pretty well,” von Fersen said. “The power lines from Marfa are coming together, the towers are in and we’ve commenced construction on the decline, the ramp that gives us access to the underground, the ore zone.”
Commissioning of the equipment and systems is likely to start next week.
The company will process raw ore on site, refining the concentrate to a 93 percent pure silver ore that will be shipped out by armored car. The raw ore is pulverized to the consistency of flour and then is chemically leached and agitated in a bath of cyanide. Cyanide is a deadly poison and its handling is regulated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. According to the International Cyanide Management Code, recovered cyanide from the tailings should not exceed 80 parts per million.
The company plans to process 350,000 tons of ore per year at Shafter.
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