Philipsburg Mill - Montana

 

The Philipsburg Mill is located in Philipsburg, Montana, about 114 road miles from the Drumlummon Mine.

 

 

RX Exploration leased the Philipsburg Mill (the "Mill") May, 2010 to conduct metallurgical and milling test-work on mineralized material extracted from the Drumlummon Mine (the "Feedstock"). The purpose of this program is to optimize metallurgical recoveries and fully develop the metallurgical flow sheet.

 

The Mill is being leased on a month by month basis for US $30,000 per month plus US $30 per dry ton milled. RX is responsible for utilities, consumables and manpower costs while operating. Trucking cost from the Drumlummon Mine to the Mill are about US $20.50 per ton.

 

The Mill is a gravity/floation mill facility that has previously operated at a capacity of 1,000 tons per day. It includes a jaw plus cone crushing circuit, two 300 HP conical grinding mills, a jig plus Wilfley table gravity circuit, six banks of flotation cells, and a licensed tailings storage facility. The Company recently installed a bank of Humphrey spirals to recirculate the heavy fraction of the tailings back to the ball mill for re-grinding.

 

The Process Flow-Sheets for the Mill prior to any changes made by the Company are at these links:

Philipsburg Mill Crushing Plant - April, 2010

Philipsburg Mill Flotation Circuit - April, 2010

Philipsburg Mill Gravity Plant - April, 2010

 

 

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RX has hired an experienced mill crew and mill superintendent, mainly from the Phillipsburg area, and has provided safety training in compliance with a training program previously submitted to, and approved by, the Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA). Additional Mill personnel are currently being trained for a 3^rd shift to be added toward the end of August, 2010. This will enable the Mill to operate on a continual, 24 hour basis, over a 5 day work week.

 

 

Bulk metallurgical test-work commenced in late May, 2010 with recoveries exceeding 92% for gold and 87% for silver (Refer to News - June 21, 2010). In June, 2010 the Company produced 1,206 ounces of gold and 33,717 ounces of silver by milling an average of 175 tpd under the test milling program (Refer to News - July 15, 2010).  In July, 2010 the Company produced 1,378 ounces of gold and 20,981 ounces of silver by milling an average of 182.5 tpd under the test milling program (Refer to News - August 16, 2010).

 

 

Click to enlarge

The next planned phase of the bulk metallurgical test-work program involves increasing daily Mill throughput while maintaining a satisfactory recovery level.

 

 

L. Joseph Bardswich, P.Eng. (Mining) (Ontario) is the qualified person responsible for preparing scientific and technical information that is posted on this website.