Jul 31 2013
Castle Mountain Mining Company Limited is pleased to announce a five year extension to the Mining Conditional Use Permit and Reclamation Plan N0. 90M-013 (“Mining Permit” or the “Permit”) for the Castle Mountain Mine to December 31, 2025. The Permit extension was granted by the County of San Bernardino, the lead permitting agency with respect the Castle Mountain Mine, following the full review of an application submitted by the Company on May 30, 2013.
The Mining Permit is the primary license required to conduct mining activities in the County of San Bernardino. As it relates to the Castle Mountain Mine, the Permit incorporates the following key provisions and qualifications;
- The open-pit mining of up to 9 million tons of ore per year
- On site heap leaching with existing pad capacity of approximately 9 million tons
- No pit back-fill requirements
- Approved environmental impact assessments and reviews
In order to restart mining operations at the Castle Mountain Mine, the Company will require, among other things, additional or updated permits to the Mining Permit. These include, but are not limited to;
- Permits to construct and operate equipment
- Certain waste water discharge permits
- Certain explosives and dust permits
Gordon McCreary, President and CEO of Castle Mountain Mining said, "The Permit extension is a significant milestone for the Company and displays the desire of the County to move forward as good partners in the mining and job creation process at Castle Mountain. We would like to thank the County of San Bernardino Land Use Services Department and other commenting agencies for their diligence and excellent work throughout the permit extension process. The Company is on track in our efforts to work towards re-starting the Castle Mountain mine, creating significant new employment in San Bernardino County. We are committed to working with all levels of government and communities to maintain the highest standards in environmental stewardship.”
Robert Buchan, Chairman of Castle Mountain Mining stated, “We are in an enviable position to have the key permit in hand for a low cost heap leach operation in an area of the western US with excellent infrastructure. Although conceptual at this stage, we envision the timely reactivation of a heap leach operation of comparable scale and output to the one that operated for about 10 years but was shut down due to low the gold prices in 2001."