Construction and Commissioning of the Kori Kollo Gold Project

The Kori Kollo operation is owned by Empresa Minera Inti Raymi S.A., a Bolivian mining company. Inti Raymi is an eighty-five percent owned subsidiary of Battle Mountain Gold Company (BMGC). The remainder of Inti Raymi is held by Zeland Mines S.A., a Bolivian mining company. The project is located near the village of La Joya, approximately 220 km south of La Paz, and 40 km north west of Oruro on the Bolivian altiplano. Inti Raymi started a heap leach operation in 1985. By 1988, following several expansions, 4,000 tonnes per day of oxide ore were being treated. At this time drilling was started to delineate the larger sulfide orebody. A feasibility study for the development of this deposit was completed in 1990, and following project approval, the engineering design was started later that year. During this period orders were placed for the major items of mechanical equipment. In July 1991, Minproc Engineers Inc. was awarded a firm price contract to design and construct the 14,000 tonne per day sulfide ore process facility.