Coeur Rochester Project

Coeur Rochester Project

Client
Coeur Rochester Inc.

Location
Nevada, USA

Highlights
  • Heap leach facility design
  • Facility specific design with engineered drawings
  • Design report
  • Final permanent closure plan
  • Regulatory framework analysis

The Rochester mine and associated heap leach facilities is a surface silver and gold mine near Lovelock, Nevada. The mine extracts both gold and silver from ore using the heap leaching process. Coeur has operated the Rochester mine since the mid-1980s, during which time it has constructed and operated three valley-leach facilities, Stage I, Stage II, and Stage IV. Stage I has ceased leaching operations and has been reclaimed. Stage II is nearing completion of leaching.

Knight Piésold’s Role

Knight Piésold was retained to complete the Stage III, Stage IV, and Stage V heap leach facility designs at the Coeur Rochester Project located 28 miles northeast of Lovelock, Nevada:

  • Stage III is a new designed facility with the capacity to contain up to 50 million tons of ore.  Because the new pad will not retain solution behind a dike, the design also provides for an external pregnant solution tank and lined contingency pond.
  • Stage IV is presently under active leaching operation and the design work included an expansion of the facility to allow for an additional 70 million tons of ore to be processed. 
  • Stage V is a new designed facility which is proposed to allow for 50 million tons of ore to be processed.  Stage V facility will not retain solution behind a dike, the design provides for an external pregnant solution tank, barren tank, and lined contingency pond. 

Knight Piésold completed the facility specific design, including:

  • Site condition evaluation
  • Design criteria
  • Leach pad design
  • Contingency pond design
  • Slope stability
  • Water balance
  • Closure and reclamation plan
  • Engineering drawings for design report

Knight Piésold was also engaged to complete the Final Permanent Closure Plan (FPCP) which was submitted to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and the US Bureau of Land Management in 2011.