Could you introduce Elevation and your flagship mine in Arizona? 

Elevation is a Canadian TSXV listed company. Our flagship asset is the Moss mine in Mohave County, AZ, 10 miles east of Bullhead City and 90 miles southeast of Las Vegas.  We went into production in 2018 and have approximately 150 employees. We control a 168 sq km exploration land package, and there are historical workings nearby: the Oatman district produced over 2 million oz Au.  Overall, the area seems under-explored. 

The ore we mine is considered a low sulfidation epithermal deposit. This comes with advantages and challenges; the rock is extremely hard, we have to crush it to a very small size (at a cost), but the recovery is good, there are no contaminants and percolation through our leach pads is excellent. Our ore grade is low, though, which drives us to remain very efficient with tight cost control. The crusher plant we have is small, but through good operating practices we have been able to double the nameplate throughput. We currently crush about 11,000 t/d. Our main goal is keeping Moss profitable to finance exploration of nearby targets.

What is your vision for Elevation since being made President in August? 

We are in the process of turning the company around financially. Our current reserves were published in the NI43-101 mid-2021 and are still applicable. The areas next to the Moss pit are really prospective for finding more gold; in 2021 and through May 2022, we drilled over 250 holes in order to figure out where to mine and where to construct future leach pads. We are also excited to be finally drilling in Florence Hill, a really promising target. We aim to stay profitable while continuing to explore with the ultimate ambition of becoming a significant producer. 

Can you expand on your maiden exploration program at Florence Hill? 

Florence Hill has been a known good target for well over a decade and is located about half-way between the Moss mine and the Gold Road mine, and our geologists feel it could be the source of mineralization in the district. 

We are drilling there looking for epithermal veins and porphyry deposits and different kinds of alteration. We are on our first hole, and it has been good enough that we are going to extend it deeper than planned. We are finding encouraging structural, vein, and alteration features. We will know about any mineral grades when we get our assays back in Q1 2023. 

How has Elevation adapted its processes to mitigate recent inflationary pressures?   

We are coming up with ways to reduce costs to balance those pressures. We drilled two new water wells so 100% of our water comes from our own wells. Internal sourcing will lower our costs and actually be better quality for our processes. Besides that, mining contractors we work with can employ new technology to increase efficiency and minimize costs. 

These pressures are unlikely to negatively affect our production at Moss. We have two sides to the deposit: the West pit and the East pit. The West is more of a disseminated deposit and the East pit contains a principal vein structure with higher grade. Overall, we produced 13,000 oz in the first half of the year and expect 20,000 oz in the second half of 2022, which reflects reaping the benefits of developing an additional push-back in East Pit. We also will not need to build an additional leach pad until Q2 2023. 

How do you view the regulatory framework for mining companies in Arizona? 

Arizona is generally very pro-mining and industry friendly. Groups like AMIGOS are extremely supportive, plus they facilitate producers and explorers’ supply chain processes; there are a large number of engineering and technology providers based in the state, there are outstanding mining and other academic programs and institutions, plus we enjoy fantastic support from the Arizona Mining Association (AMA). 

What should we expect from Elevation in the next few months?

We hope it is the identification of more economic ore material next to our current operating pits to enable us to extend the mine life for 3-5 more years. The long-term prospect of Florence Hill is also very interesting, and we are drilling there now and will get results in the next few months.