Winnemucca mining chemicals facility to boost its production

The owners of a mining chemicals plant at Winnemucca are making a major bet that the boom in the state's mining industry has legs to run a couple more years.

Nevada Chemicals Inc. of Salt Lake City and CyPlus Corp. of Allendale, N.J., said they will undertake a $1 million-plus improvement project at the Cyanco plant they jointly own.

When the project is complete within the next year, production of sodium cyanide from the plant will increase by about 30 percent a year to 30 million pounds annually.

Employment at the facility, which now stands at approximately 30, will increase only modestly, perhaps by one or two people, said Bob Warriner, who manages sales and marketing at the Cyanco plant.

He said the project is designed to reduce production bottlenecks at the facility.

Warriner said the company's current mining customers have indicated that they see continued strong demand for the chemical, which is used to extract gold from ore deposits.

Additionally, he said Cyanco executives believe the current flurry of minerals exploration in the region exploration driven by high prices for gold and other minerals is likely to create even more demand for the company's products.

The Winnemucca plant's customers are mostly in northern Nevada although Cyanco also serves customers elsewhere in the Rocky Mountain and Northwest regions.