UPDATE: MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2008

There have been numerous requests to see how the plant and the stockpile look at this moment at the site. Figure 1 shows the plant and stockpile as it sits today.

Figure 1: Iron Mountain Processing Site

This is a panoramic view taken from a waste dump just south of the site. The current stockpile holds nearly 150,000 tons of crushed ore ready to load into the rail cars. In front of the stockpile is the red stacker that loads the freshly crushed material. The crusher cannot be seen, but is in the ridge just in front of the stacker. The crushed material is drawn from the bottom of the stockpile on a conveyor that runs inside a tunnel underneath the pile. The conveyor then loads the material onto the larger silver conveyor system that feeds the tipple. The tipple has three individually operated door mechanisms that are computer controlled to ensure an balanced load on all the rail cars. Please note the string of rail cars under the tipple in the process of being loaded. The cars to the left of tipple that pass behind the stockpile are loaded and being stored on the ancillary tracks for shipment.

This week will be busy at the site with railcar and weigh-scale testing. Officials from the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) and the State of Utah will be onsite to ensure the scale is calibrated properly. A properly calibrated scale will allow us to ensure that we meet the specifications for movement of unit trains on the UP lines and at the port.

With all this going on at the site, our highest priority is still our work with the port to assure its readiness to receive our ore.