SILVER 855 
 
and acquisition of substantial new reserves in 1984. 
 At the Zortman Mine, Pegasus produced 157,500 ounces of silver and 60,400
ounces of gold.14 On March 20, Pegasus reached an agreement, subject to Gold
Reserve Corp. shareholder approval, to acquire Gold Reserve's interest in
the Zortman Mine in exchange for Pegasus' common shares. The agreement, if
approved by Gold Reserve shareholders in 1986, would give Pegasus total ownership
and control of the property. 
 Asarco reported that 3.6 million ounces of silver in concentrate was produced
at the Troy Mine compared with 4.3 million ounces in 1984. 
 Nevada.—Production resumed at the Buckhorn Mine in March following
a 4-month shutdown to modernize the ore handling and crushing facilities.
The project increased capacity by 30%. In 1985, 600,000 tons of ore was milled
to produce over 100,000 ounces of silver, compared with 10,000 ounces of
silver from 194,000 tons of ore in 1984. Employment at the mine increased
from 36 at yearend 1984 to 66 at yearend 1985.15 
 At the Fortitude Mine, 222,000 ounces of gold and 647,000 ounces of silver
were produced.16 The drilling program on the property resulted in an 18%
increase in reserves. Reserves at Fortitude contain an estimated 1.6 million
and 2.2 million ounces of recoverable gold and silver, respectively. The
Surprise deposit, which Battle Mountain plans to develop as a satellite operation
to the Fortitude Mine, was discovered by the Fortitude drilling program.
Production from the Surprise deposit was expected to begin in 1987. 
 In February 1985, operations at the Gooseberry Mine were reduced from 10,000
tons per month to 1,200 tons per month owing to low precious metals prices.
Production was maintained at the reduced level until November, when production
was halted because of continued low prices and disappointing exploration
results. During the year, 25,000 tons of ore was milled yielding an average
of 0.182 ounce of gold and 7.87 ounces of silver per ton.'7 
 Echo Bay acquired a 50% interest in the Round Mountain Mine on January 1,
through the purchase of Copper Range Co. from The Louisiana Land and Exploration
Co. Echo Bay subsequently reduced operating costs at the gold-silver heap-leach
operation by lengthening the leach cycle, using higher leaching piles, using
heated leaching 
solution in winter, and by pressure stripping of loaded carbon. 
 AMAX began construction at the Sleeper deposit, in northwestern Nevada.
Production from a central high-grade zone containing 1.4 million tons of
ore grading 0.324 ounce of gold and 0.903 ounce of silver per ton was expected
in mid-1986. 
 Limited production resumed at the Victor Mine in the second half of 1985.
Testing of the. mine's facilities following renovations and expansion projects,
completed since the mine's closure in 1984, was conducted during this period
of production. 
 At the Candelaria Mine, 2.5 million ounces of silver was produced in 1985.18
United Mining Corp. closed its New Savage Mine in April because of low gold
and silver prices. The New Savage Mine is on the famous Comstock Lode. The
Taylor Mine, one of Nevada's largest silver producers, remained closed throughout
the year. 
 Utah.—Kennecott closed the Bingham Canyon Mine, a copper-gold-silver
operation, in March reportedly because of low prices. During the third quarter,
Kennecott announced the purchase of the Carr Fork Mine's reserves from Atlantic
Richfield Co.'s Anaconda Minerals Co. subsidiary. The Carr Fork Mine is on
property adjacent to Bingham Canyon. Near yearend, Kennecott's parent company,
Standard Oil Co., announced a $400 million program to modernize Bingham Canyon.
The projects were expected to be completed in 1988. 
 At the Escalante Mine, nearly 2.4 mfflion ounces of silver was produced
in 1985, an increase of over 203,000 ounces from that of 1984.'~ Operating
costs at the mine were reduced through an 8% labor force reduction. Additional
ore was developed on the southernly extension of the vein, and the possible
presence of another vein north of the present mine boundary was indicated
in drilling results. 
 Texaco Inc. sold its Getty Gold Co. subsidiary to Barrick Resources Corp.
near midyear. Getty operated the Mercur Mine, a gold-silver operation in
southern Utah. 
 Washington.—Asamera Minerals (U.S.) Inc. and Breakwater Resources
Ltd. began commercial production at the Cannon Mine in 1985. The mine began
operations on January 1, and the mill officially began production on July
15. Nearly 150,000 tons of gold-silver ore was processed. By yearend, mill
throughput was averaging 1,600 tons per day. Tenneco Minerals Co. and United
Mining sold their properties adjacent to the