TSX: GQM
www.goldenqueen.com
Mr. Thomas Clay reports:
VANCOUVER, Jan. 18, 2018 /CNW/ - Golden Queen Mining Co. Ltd. (TSX:GQM | OTCQX:GQMNF) ("Golden Queen" or "the Company") today announces its operating results for December 2017, including total gold production of 2,939 ounces and revenue of US$4.1 m from its Soledad Mountain gold-silver mine (the "Mine") located south of Mojave, California. All amounts herein are in US dollars and reflect 100% of the operating results of Golden Queen Mining Company, LLC ("GQM LLC"), the Company's 50%-owned subsidiary that holds the Mine, unless otherwise stated.
Golden Queen advised in its third quarter Form 10-Q that management was accelerating the East Pit development to seek to access higher-grade ore tons as soon as possible to compensate for the shortfall in the ore supplied and the lower than expected gold ore grades from the North-West and Main (Phase 1) Pits. Since November 2017, five benches have been mined out in the East Pit and the Company is pleased to report the following positive reconciliation between Ore Control (production) and Reserves:
Ore Control v. Reserves | ||||||||
Ore tons | Au oz/ton | Au oz | Ag oz/ton | Ag oz | ||||
Bench 3800 | ||||||||
Reserves | 57,517 | 0.016 | 941 | 0.318 | 18,309 | |||
Ore Control | 114,237 | 0.012 | 1,372 | 0.319 | 36,437 | |||
Variance OC-Reserves | 99% | -27% | 46% | 0% | 99% | |||
Reserves | ||||||||
Bench 3780 | ||||||||
Reserves | 81,333 | 0.015 | 1,225 | 0.287 | 23,253 | |||
Ore Control | 160,373 | 0.016 | 2,638 | 0.329 | 52,748 | |||
Variance OC-Reserves | 97% | 9% | 115% | 15% | 126% | |||
Reserves | ||||||||
Bench 3760 | ||||||||
Reserves | 126,065 | 0.015 | 1,887 | 0.279 | 35,121 | |||
Ore Control | 171,551 | 0.018 | 3,071 | 0.227 | 38,977 | |||
Variance OC-Reserves | 36% | 20% | 63% | -18% | 11% | |||
Reserves | ||||||||
Bench 3740 | ||||||||
Reserves | 167,306 | 0.014 | 2,413 | 0.249 | 41,614 | |||
Ore Control | 199,890 | 0.018 | 3,664 | 0.295 | 58,963 | |||
Variance OC-Reserves | 19% | 27% | 52% | 19% | 42% | |||
Reserves | ||||||||
Bench 3720 | ||||||||
Reserves | 203,053 | 0.015 | 3,141 | 0.252 | 51,200 | |||
Ore Control | 254,828 | 0.018 | 4,644 | 0.288 | 73,423 | |||
Variance OC-Reserves | 25% | 18% | 48% | 14% | 43% | |||
Reserves | ||||||||
Cumulative | ||||||||
Reserves | 635,274 | 0.015 | 9,607 | 0.267 | 169,598 | |||
Ore Control | 900,879 | 0.017 | 15,388 | 0.289 | 260,548 | |||
Variance OC-Reserves | 42% | 13% | 60% | 8% | 54% | |||
Reserves | ||||||||
To date, the tonnage produced in the East Pit has consistently been better than expected due to the presence of ore blocks in the Patience vein structure area that had been classified as possible or simply un-modeled. In addition, the gold grade was 13% higher than estimated for a total of 1.6 times the expected gold ounces. The silver grade was 8% higher than estimated for a total of 1.5 times the predicted number of silver ounces.
On January 22nd, the Company's drill program comprising up to 20 holes and approximately 20,000 feet of reverse circulation drilling at a projected cost of US$1.0 m will commence. This drilling is designed to increase confidence in the currently modelled ore grades and tonnage associated with the Golden Queen vein structure, to improve the Company's understanding of the Patience vein structure with the objective of adding additional ounces to the reserves with immediate impact to the mine plan, and to investigate the Silver Queen vein structure in the South-East section where historical underground development appears on historic maps but has not been evidenced in historic extraction reports.
Upcoming Event
Mr. Thomas M. Clay, Chairman and CEO will be a speaker at the 2018 Vancouver Resource Investment Conference. The presentation will take place on Sunday, January 21st at 11:20am in the Vancouver Convention Centre West.
Technical Information:
The scientific and technical content of this news release was reviewed, verified, and approved by Tim Mazanek, SME; a qualified person as defined by Canadian Securities Administrators National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and the Mine Manager of Golden Queen Mining Company, LLC.