BEATTY -- Atna Resources, a Colorado company, has released a feasibility study for the Reward gold mine, six miles southeast of Beatty, which recommends development of a conventional open pit mining, ore crushing and heap leach operation.

The feasibility study, prepared by Chlumsky, Armbrust and Meyer LLC of Lakewood, Colo., estimates the mine will produce 117,000 ounces of gold over a four-year mine life at an average cash cost of $409 per ounce.

The feasibility study estimates $24.3 million in capital costs for crushing and processing plants, facilities and infrastructure, mining fleet and pre-production stripping. The gold will be absorbed onto carbon at the Reward mine, shipped to their Briggs mine near Trona, Calif., and refined into gold there.

"Our goal is to be in production at Reward by the end of 2009," said Valerie Kimball with investor relations at Atna Resources.

The current projection is to hire 75 to 80 people including equipment operators, processing people and mechanics, said Ken Mann, mine manager for Atna Resources at the Reward mine and their Briggs mine near Trona, Calif.

"Mining jobs in general are fairly high paying jobs," Mann said. "The Beatty area had a mine in the area, the Barrick Bullfrog mine, so there should be some expertise in the area."

Gold mineralization was found at a length of over 2,400 feet at a depth of 400 feet. The site is six miles south of Beatty on Highway 95, then two miles down the mine road.

Depressed gold prices resulted in a reevaluation of the project's feasibility and the permit request to the Bureau of Mining Regulation and Reclamation was withdrawn in 2001. The price of gold has soared this year, making exploration more profitable, with the Wednesday price up $5.40 to $927.30 per ounce.

Canyon Resources acquired the mining claims from Barrick and applied for a new water pollution control permit on March 30, 2007.

The project is near where Sterling Gold Co. started an exploratory incline to rework ore last mined in the 1990s called the Saga Mine.

A geologic evaluation identified 6.4 million tons of gold-mineralized material and an estimated 11 million tons of waste rock and overburden material which will require removal and disposal. Three pits -- the Good Hope, Bull Moose North and Bull Moose South -- will be developed, interconnecting with one open pit with an area of about 55 acres. A fourth pit, Gold Ace, will also be developed, about six acres in size.

The company has entered into an agreement to lease water rights for potential future operations the study states.

At the current gold prices, the project would return a cash flow of approximately $36 million, the study states.

A high-density polyethylene liner will be used in the cyanide heap-leaching process, NDEP said soil permeability results merit, the company may be required to install a leak detection system.

"Our current geographic focus for future corporate growth is the state of Nevada. Nevada is highly prospective for gold; it has a stable regulatory environment and a well established mining sector," the company states in a news release.

The Nevada Division of Minerals reported Nevada's mining industry set an all time record in 2007 for the total value of mined commodities of $5.4 billion.

NDEP made a tentative decision to issue a water pollution control permit July 5 for the Reward mine.

"We got quite a ways to go, we're writing the EA, environmental assessment, as we speak. We still have to get reclamation plans approved by the state. We have quite a few hoops to jump through, we have to get an air control permit approved by the state," Mann said.

Atna Resources merged with Canyon Resources Corp. in March. The company is also developing the Briggs mine near Trona, Calif., which is estimated to have proven and probable reserves of 151,000 ounces of gold.

Atna is also a partner with Barrick Mining Co. in the Pinson Mine, 26 miles northeast of Winnemucca.

Operations at the Briggs mine began in 1996. In May the company produced 181 ounces by rinsing the head leach pads.

New ore is forecast to be mined at the Trona site in the first quarter of 2009 with production ramping up to 25,000 to 30,000 ounces per year. Atna Resources expects to hire another 70 to 75 employees at that mine, Mann said the company offered a training program there and expects to do the same in Beatty.