Parking Lot Congestion

The rocks being poured in this picture have gold in higher concentrations than typical for the mine (still measured in milli-ounces of gold per ton of rock). The ore bearing rock has been mined in the pit, loaded onto haul trucks, dumped into a crusher and then conveyed to a "reusable leach pad". After the conveyor pours the newly created gravel, teams of people follow behind and plumb a network for the cyanide solution to drip onto the mound. Unlike the larger pads, this leach pad is just asphalt that is very similar to a large mall parking lot. The ore usually stays no longer than ~60 days before a high percentage of the gold has been removed and then the gravel is transferred to the larger leach pads for years of leaching what gold is left. The conveyor pictured here is a one of a kind as it creates its own bed to travel on in a slow continuous loop.