Excelsior Mining Hires New General Manager and Provides Operations Update
Phoenix, Arizona--(Newsfile Corp. - August 12, 2020) - Excelsior Mining Corp. (TSX: MIN) (FSE: 3XS) (OTCQX: EXMGF) ("Excelsior" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the hiring of Robert Winton as the new General Manager and Senior Vice President of the Gunnison Copper Project. In this role, Mr. Winton will be responsible for all facets of the mining operations at the Company's in-situ copper project in southern Arizona.
"We are very pleased that Robert Winton has joined our team; Excelsior will benefit from his proven track record of developing teams that exceed expectations, and in his ability as a senior mining executive to build a culture of personal empowerment and collaboration," said, President and CEO, Stephen Twyerould.
Excelling in the areas of strategic planning and leadership, Mr. Winton brings to Excelsior over 20 years of management experience within the mining industry. Filling the General Manager position made vacant by the appointment of Mr. Greg Duschek as Interim CFO (see Excelsior news release dated April 9 - Excelsior Provides Operations Update), Mr. Winton was most recently the General Manager and President of Nyrstar Clarksville, where he was responsible for the Clarksville Smelter, which is a 130 kiloton zinc refinery located in Tennessee. From 1997 to 2016, Mr. Winton enjoyed a diverse and accomplished career with Hudbay Minerals, a diversified mining company that produces copper, gold, silver and zinc from several operations throughout North and South America. Most notably, from 2014 to 2016, Mr. Winton was Vice-President of Hudbay Minerals, Manitoba Business Unit; in this role he was responsible for an autonomous base-metal business unit that comprised three underground mines, three mills, a zinc refinery, and over 1,400 employees. Mr. Winton is a registered Professional Engineer; he graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering.
Operations Update
Despite continued uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company is preparing for an eventual restart with a targeted sustained production rate of 25 million pounds of copper per year. Excelsior has recently begun injecting acid solution into a limited number of wells and then recovering solution from adjacent wells. The purpose of these activities is to test the modified (retro-fit) wells under small-scale operating conditions and to gain knowledge on the new "Push-Pull" operating procedures.
In 2019, Excelsior constructed three acid storage tanks with total capacity of 7500 tons of sulphuric acid; these acid tanks are mostly full, and this supply will be used to facilitate these operations. Excelsior estimates that the current supply of acid stored on site would last for several months, and the Company expects to be able to source additional acid on a short-term basis.
At this time, these small-scale activities are preferred by the Company as the health risks to the Company's workforce related to COVID-19 continue, and any significant interruption in the workforce could negatively impact larger operations. The Company has put in place various procedures to mitigate the risk of transmission of COVID-19 on site as the Health and Safety of our employees remains Excelsior's primary concern.
About Excelsior Mining
Excelsior "The Copper Solution Company" is a mineral exploration and production company that owns the Gunnison Copper Project in Cochise County, Arizona. The project is a low cost, environmentally friendly in-situ recovery copper extraction project that is permitted to 125 million pounds per year of copper cathode production. The Feasibility Study projected an after-tax NPV of US$ 807 million and an IRR of 40% using a US$ 2.75 per pound copper price and a 7.5% discount rate.
Excelsior's technical work on the Gunnison Copper Project is supervised by Stephen Twyerould, Fellow of AUSIMM, President & CEO of Excelsior and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Twyerould has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.
Additional information about the Gunnison Copper Project can be found in the technical report filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com entitled: "Gunnison Copper Project, NI 43-101 Technical Report, Feasibility Study" dated effective December 17, 2016.
For more information on Excelsior, please visit our website at www.excelsiormining.com.
For further information regarding this press release, please contact:
Excelsior Mining Corp.
Concord Place, Suite 300, 2999 North 44th Street, Phoenix, AZ, 85018.
JJ Jennex, Vice President, Corporate Affairs
T: 604 723 1433
E: info@excelsiormining.com
www.excelsiormining.com
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains "forward-looking information" concerning anticipated developments and events that may occur in the future. Forward looking information contained in this news release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to: (i) the results of the Feasibility Study, including operating and capital cost estimates and the economic benefits from the Gunnison Copper Project; (ii) the details of the operations plan; (iii) the timeline to re-start operations; and (iv) the ability to mine the Gunnison Copper Project using in-situ recovery mining techniques.
In certain cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "occur" or "be achieved" suggesting future outcomes, or other expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions, intentions or statements about future events or performance. Forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on certain factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, the estimation of mineral resources and mineral reserves, the realization of resource and reserve estimates, expectations and anticipated impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, copper and other metal prices, the timing and amount of future development expenditures, the estimation of initial and sustaining capital requirements, the estimation of labour and operating costs (including the price of acid), the progress of construction activities, receipt of and compliance with necessary regulatory approvals, the estimation of insurance coverage, and assumptions with respect to currency fluctuations, environmental risks, title disputes or claims, and other similar matters. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect.
Forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include risks inherent in the construction of mineral deposits, including risks relating to changes in project parameters as plans continue to be redefined including the possibility that mining operations may not commence at the Gunnison Copper Project, risks relating to variations in mineral resources and reserves, grade or recovery rates, risks relating to the ability to access infrastructure, risks relating to changes in copper and other commodity prices and the worldwide demand for and supply of copper and related products, risks related to increased competition in the market for copper and related products, risks related to current global financial conditions, risks related to current global financial conditions and the impact of COVID-19 on the Company's business, uncertainties inherent in the estimation of mineral resources, access and supply risks, risks related to the ability to access acid supply on commercially reasonable terms, reliance on key personnel, operational risks inherent in the conduct of mining activities, including the risk of accidents, labour disputes, increases in capital and operating costs and the risk of delays or increased costs that might be encountered during the construction process, regulatory risks, financing, capitalization and liquidity risks, risks related to disputes concerning property titles and interests, environmental risks and the additional risks identified in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's reports and filings with applicable Canadian securities regulators.
Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information is made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information.
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