Ames crews constructed a new Valley Leach Facility (VLF) in Squaw Gulch for the expansion of existing leaching operations for gold recovery ore processing. The project is the single largest leach pad constructed at the site to date, with a footprint of approximately 350 acres.

Crews worked through schedule challenges that come with performing work on steep 2:1 slopes during long periods of excessive rainfall, and existing underground mine workings created a special challenge. As earthwork and excavation progressed, nearly 700 workings within the project boundaries required remediation. Both known and unknown cavities ranged from simply filling a small pit with a few cubic yards of compacted material, to the complexities of placing thousands of square yards of geosynthetic liner, along with subgrade blasting, excavation and re-compaction efforts. Crews also relocated SH 67; road relocation was necessary to allow for construction of the new facility.

The project required more than six million cubic yards of earthwork, which included in excess of 2.3 million cubic yards of blasted rock excavation, and crews processed and placed more than 2.2 million tons of aggregate.