Kappes Cassiday building mill for Guatemala mine

Kappes Cassiday and Associates of Reno has started construction and earth moving for a gold mine in southern Guatemala.

The company, which is building the mine in a joint venture with Radius Gold Inc. of Vancouver, expects to begin gold production within two to three months. Radius said last week it won the final permit it needed to begin construction of the Tambor gold mine.

Kappes Cassiday has constructed a modular mill including a 150-ton-per-day ball mill and flotation cells at its Reno facility. The mill was built as a set of modular units mounted on 40-foot skids.

The Reno company plans to drive an incline for underground mining on the Guatemalan property, using small trackless mining equipment.

The property also is expected to include open-pit operations.

Radius discovered the Tambor gold property in 2000. Studies have inferred resources of 216,000 ounce of gold are available for mining.