Operations

1. Rotary drills bore 48 foot holes, 9-7/8 inches in diameter into the granite host rock.
   
   
2. Drill cuttings are assayed to verify composition.
   
   
3. Drill holes are loaded with exposive to blast and fracture the rock.
   
   
4. Massive electric shovels load loose ore or waste into haul trucks.
   
   
5. Ore is hauled to the crusher in 240 ton capacity trucks. Waste goes to a designated waste rock repository.
   
   
6. The primary crusher reduces large chunks of raw ore to dimensions under six inches.
   
   
7. The crushed ore is tumbled with steel rods and balls in a series of mills, pulverizing it to a fine powder. The fine ore is mixed with water and further pulverized into a muddy slurry.


8. The slurry is then pumped into the flotation cells in the concentrator where lime and other chemicals are added to liberate the metal sulfides. Molybdenum and copper is extracted, seperated and dried for shipping.


9. Resulting high-grade moly concentrates are bagged and transported to roasting facilities in the US and Europe. Copper concentrate is loaded into 100 ton gondola rail cars and shipped to smelters in North America and overseas.


10. Water used in the process is recycled back into the water circuit and excavated land undergoes reclamation and revegetation.

Montana Resources also produces copper by cycling water from the Berkeley Pit through scrap steel cans. Through ion exchange, copper replaces a portion of the steel.