Work on Pan Mine Project coming along

Midway Gold Corporation’s General Manager, Mike Protani, gave the Eureka County Commission an update on the Pan Mine Project at last week’s meeting.

“We’re quite a ways into construction,” Protani said with power poles set for two and a half miles with about 30 more miles left to build.

Protani noted the mine, located 20 miles south of Eureka in White Pine County, is expected to produce 100,000 ounces of gold a year for an 8 year mine life.

The ultimate employment will be 120 full-time. The contractors include Ledcor CMI, the Mining Contractor; Jacobs Engineering for site construction; WESCO for mine blasting; and EPC/Cashe Valley Electric for building power lines and the substation.

255 people are presently on site, the majority being employed by the contractors with Midway, having 27 employees with a goal of 50. Protani said interviews are underway and noted the company still has a small office in Ely, although eventually everyone will move to the mine site.

Protani said, “It’s busy times” with the access road from Hwy. 50 and the Phase 1 Heap Leach Pad complete and the ADR plant, site administrative facility, site electrical substation and power distribution construction in progress.

Protani reported about 48 percent of the employees are from Ely with 25 percent coming out of Eureka. The remainder are from various other places.

The bulk of LEDCOR’s employees are living in Eureka while 25 percent of those reside in White Pine County. Jacobs’ employees, most of whom are temporary, are primarily from White Pine County. Pan Mine Taxes and Fees are projected for 2015 to be $4,000,000.

Protani said Midway is awarding scholarships in both Eureka and White Pine Counties and thanked both White Pine and Eureka County agencies for assisting Midway on multiple fronts with special thanks to Ron Damele for being “especially helpful.” Protani is the mining representative on NRAC for which he was thanked by Mike Mears and the Commissioners.