Mineral Ridge Update
June 11, 2008
Over the past two weeks, the drilling program at Mineral Ridge has concentrated on perfroming a series of angle holes. The special angle package, designed and built for Golden Phoenix, has perfromed perfectly. Using the newly acquired Spyder Crane, the 20 foot sections of drill pipe are loaded onto the derrick. Angles up to 45 degrees off vertical can be drilled. The team has put down five angle holes successfully, and all systems are operating as designed.
March 31, 2008
Sampling on the leach pad has been going very well. Drilling on the pad was suspended while assays are being performed, and the drill rig has been moved to a target area nearby where we began drilling our first deep "hardrock" hole at Mineral Ridge on Wednesday, March 26.
Atlas Copco rep's were on hand to insure the drill operated well and that the new down-the-hole-hammer bit performed as expected. This brand new RC-50 hammer bit has been lent to us by Atlas Copco for testing. It is designed for rapid penetration of harder rock. This is the first time this bit has been used with a reverse circulation drill anywhere in North America. The Atlas Copco people were very impressed with the performance and penetration rate. (We were equally impressed, with our best penetration of 20 feet achieved in 7 minutes.) This new bit was tested in Australia during 2007, introduced at CONEXPO, and has just been introduced in North America at Mineral Ridge.
The drilling will continue in this area for the next several days, with plans to return to the leach pad to complete that part of the sampling program in April.
March 17, 2008
Drilling at Mineral Ridge continues. The rate of drilling out the leach pad has increased three-fold, with some days reaching 1200 feet. The average depth of each hole is about 60 feet. The rig continues to perform beautifully.
March 13, 2008
Golden Phoenix inaugurated the new Atlas Copco drill this week and began drilling and sampling the leach pad at Mineral Ridge. A representative from Atlas Copco was on hand to insure it performed properly. There were no problems and the drill ran flawlessly. The first day, our team drilled roughly 300 feet and has worked up to an average of about 500-to-600 feet per day and is fully operational.
The protocol calls for sampling every 5 feet with the average depth per hole of about 60 feet resulting in 12 samples per hole. Our contract geologist, Rich Dixon, was on hand to insure proper sampling procedures are always being followed. The pad sampling program will require drilling 200 holes over the next month, prior to commencing deep drilling elsewhere on the property.
The present plan is to drill Mineral Ridge during the next six weeks, then schedule a drill sequence at Ashdown later this spring, before returning to Mineral Ridge to continue deep drilling this summer.
February 14, 2008
Our drill team (Jim, Wayne, Mark and Jason) visit Bill Weber (in coveralls) of West Coast Drill Systems. Bill has completed the construction of the angle package that is being fitted onto the drill rig.
The rig is slated for final checks next week, and then is scheduled to be mobilized to Mineral Ridge gold mine immediately to initiate drilling.
December 19, 2007
This Atlas Copco TH60 drilling rig, currently under construction in Dallas, is slated for delivery to Golden Phoenix early in 2008.
The rig is mounted on a Peterbuilt 367 truck chassis. It features a 600 HP Cummins ISX engine, 1070/350 I-R HR 2.5 air compressor, six rod carousel for 4.5 x 20' x 2 7/8" IF, 35 gpm FMC water injection pump and sand reel with 1,000 feet of 3/8" line.
The rig is capable of 70,000 lbs of pullback, with a 60,000 lb winch and two speed high torque rotary head. The rig is being set up for reverse circulation (RC) drilling, and is sized for drilling up to 2000 feet. It is road-ready, and can self-mobilize to drill sites at any of the Company properties.
The rig is scheduled for delivery to Sacramento for inspection and acceptance by Golden Phoenix. Upon acceptance, a custom-designed angle package will be installed on the derrick. The angle gear will allow for drilling up to 45% off vertical.
September 15, 2007
On September 12, Jay Taylor, editor of the J Taylor Gold and Technology Stocks Newsletter, and a longterm shareholder in Golden Phoenix, toured the Mineral Ridge gold and silver mine with Dave Caldwell, Rob Martin and others.
Rob Martin and Jay Taylor at the Mary Mine portal
The tour focused on the past open pit and underground development throughout Mineral Ridge. The Company's Technical Services Group (TSG) has been working on the engineering and permitting process involved with reopening the mine at a future date. Mr. Taylor, an authority on the gold markets, was interested in reacquainting himself with the mine's potential. Mineral Ridge is permitted and bonded for gold and silver mining, and has been layed-up since 2005, awaiting reopening.
Visiting the Brodie Pit
This shot of the Drinkwater Pit shows the extensive stripping that was performed in 2004, leaving gold mineralization on the benches fully exposed and ready for extraction upon the reopening of the mine.
Underground in the Mary Mine
Mineral Ridge is a consolidated property, which includes both open pit and underground mines. Historically, 680,000 ounces of gold have been reported to come from the mine, with over 50 miles of underground workings developed in the process. The historical gold recovery was achieved through grinding and vat leaching at reported recovery rates of up to 94%. The mine sits at the heart of the Silver Peak mining district, which is known as one of the most productive mining districts in Nevada.
In additon to the construction of an extensive road and power line system, the mine features a complete gold processing facility. In the mid-1990's, before Golden Phoenix acquired the property, several companies attempted to convert the mine to a heap leach operation, but were unsuccessful due to the nature of the deposit which requires grinding, instead of leaching, in order to liberate the gold.
In 2003-4, former GPXM management attempted to repeat the same leaching process, also unsuccessfully. With gold trading around $400 per ounce, new management elected in 2005 to stand-down the facility and concentrate on bringing the Ashdown Moly Mine on line. Over the past year, with gold nearly doubling in price, the TSG has been performing the analysis to determine the most effective way to return the property to profitable gold and silver production, including planned exploration to expand the existing reserves and resource. A majority of the four-square-mile property has never been explored or drilled using state-of-the-art techniques and equipment.
 Jay and Dave Caldwell viewing the former workings
COO Don Prahl guiding Jay through the drifts
TSG Supervisor, Wayne Colwell, shooting a mineral reading with an XRF field gun. Such readings can indicate markers for unmined gold in the hanging walls.
A typical sample notation painted on the hanging wall by a company geologist, indicating 1.04 oz of gold. Such notations of varying grades are located throughout sections of the underground workings indicating presence of unmined gold.
 View of the leach pad, crusher and ADR plant
January 15, 2007
During 2006, and continuing into 2007, the Company has been performing engineering and geological analysis of the mine's resource to determine the best way to restart operations. This work will continue while permits are maintained.
September 2, 2005
Nine miners have been furloughed for the fall and winter and a core staff remains to secure, maintain and caretake the mine through the winter. The heap leach has been idled on a temporary closure, and all mining and leaching activities are suspended until the engineering and permitting work for the next phase of mine development has been completed.
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Mineral Ridge Gold & Silver Mine
