Winnemucca gold-extraction plant set for operation in July

A Florida company says it leased and purchased buildings in Winnemucca and expects that a new plant will be chemically extracting gold from mine tailings by late July.

James Logan, president ofWineco Productions of Sunrise, Fla., said last week a subsidiary of the company has ordered equipment for the process, which he described as patented and proprietary.

Logan said the Development and Exploration and Mining Inc.

subsidiary of Wineco, a publicly held company, expects to produce more than 150 ounces of gold a month from the 10,000-square-foot facility.

The company has estimated its investment in the facilities will total $3 million.

For starters,DEMI will process only tailings from the Willow Creek mine controlled by Wineco.

That mine is about 18 miles east of Winnemucca.

Although other mining companies are interested in partnerships with DEMI to process their tailings, Logan said his company wants to prove the technology first.

"We don't want to fudge on anybody," he said."Let us prove the point, then we'll go from there.

There have been too damned many scams out there."

In fact, he said,Wineco is getting into mining at Willow Creek only reluctantly because its expertise is processing, not extraction.

The company said it expects to begin conventional mining operations by July 1.

Earlier, Logan had said that DEMI ultimately will look to split the take 50-50 with mining companies that provide tailings for the processing plant.

In the meantime,Wineco is looking to acquire as many as 14 active or inactive mines during the next nine months, said Larry Nelson, the company's director of acquisitions.

Logan said the company's process uses entirely biodegradable materials but produces at least seven times more gold than conventional leach systems that rely on cyanide.

The company expects to employ about 40 in its mining, trucking and processing operations, Logan said.

Although Wineco's common stock trades in the so-called "Pink Sheets"market, the company hasn't filed financial reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The stock, which has reached $4.25 a share in the last year, was trading last week at $3.