Mill Operations
Clifton Mining Company's (Clifton) (OTC :
CFTN) joint venture partner Desert Hawk Gold Corp. (Desert Hawk), completed
the overhaul and renovation of the Gold Hill mill in September of 2010.
Preliminary mill operations started in October, with fine tuning of the mill
over the past several months. New crushing and grinding circuits have been
put in place as well as additional banks of float cells and new gravity
separation tables, upgrading capacity and recoveries. A new automated
crusher has been placed at the mine site so that ore can be crushed before
being shipped to the mill for processing.
Phase One: Initial Production
Initial production has started at a mine site identified as the Yellow
Hammer Mine. Current production includes the recovery of copper, gold,
silver and tungsten. The average ore being processed by Desert Hawk is
running 4-6% copper with gold, silver, and tungsten by-products. High
grade zones have exceeded 17% copper. The first copper, gold, and
silver concentrate has been shipped to the smelter and the first payment is
expected in April. Several other known copper/gold deposits located
within the area will be used for additional mill feed.
Phase Two:
Phase two involves the construction of a copper heap leach at the mill
site to extract the oxide copper. The recovered copper will boost
revenues and royalties. Government filings have been submitted, and the
venture is currently awaiting approval.
Phase Three:
Filings have been made with government agencies to construct a large
heap leach pad near the Kiewit properties. This pad is being engineered
to accommodate not only the gold resources from the Kiewit properties, but
also silver and gold material from surrounding mine sites. It is
anticipated that the government approval will be granted later this year and
that construction will begin thereafter. We expect this to be the
largest and most profitable project for the Company.
Technology:
Rustum
Roy, one of the premiere solid state physicists, and William Moeller have
developed a potentially important process and assigned the corresponding US
Patent (7,850,759) to the Company. There was a
error in the filing of the assignment but it has since been corrected.
The patent involves the use of microwave technology, and particular
frequencies, to treat certain types of refractory ore. Preliminary
testing at the Department of Metallurgy of the University of Utah has shown this
technology to increase precious metals recoveries by as much as
ten-fold. Clifton will continue testing this process with the intent of
using it in the mill process and potentially licensing the technology to
other mining companies.
Lawsuits:
The two lawsuits the Company was previously named in have both been
amicably settled.
Clifton trades on the U.S. OTC: (CFTN).
Note: Any statements released by Clifton Mining Company that are
forward looking are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Editors and investors
are cautioned that forward looking statements