Oregon-focused silver miner Bayhorse Silver has completed its upgraded mill facility in Idaho.

The mill, which processes material mined at the Bayhorse Silver mine in Oregon, has an additional grinding mill. This additional mill has a grind and regrind capacity to ensure a grind size of 80 microns.

Bayhorse developed the new milling process over the last three years at Metsolve Metallurgical Laboratories in British Columbia.

The initial mill, launched in September 2019, contained a crushing circuit, a regrind circuit, a gravity circuit, and frothing circuit which produced concentrate at -100 mesh, Bayhorse said in November 2019.

Bayhorse has also added three additional stages for dewatering and fines recovery, and a precipitation circuit that develops eco-blocks for tailings recycling. These eco-blocks also reduce the amount of dissolved contaminants to meet Idaho state requirements on wastewater effluent.

The company plans to sell these eco-blocks to the construction industry.

The mill now processes between 50 and 60 tonnes per day.

Bayhorse is continuing to use a Steinart X-ray ore sorter, which it has been using since 2017.

The mill will begin operations in "slightly more than 90 days", Bayhorse said, when Idaho authorities will issue the building permit for the building which houses the mill facility. Construction had been delayed due to severe winter conditions in Idaho and the Bayhorse mine in Oregon, Bayhorse said in March.

Bayhorse Silver signed a definitive offtake agreement with Ocean Partners UK in January 2021; Bayhorse will deliver 300 metric tons, or 15 container loads, of silver-copper concentrate from its Oregon mine.