Mr. Michael Allen reports
NORTHERN EMPIRE EXPANDS POTENTIAL OF PERMITTED STERLING GOLD MINE, REPORTS POSITIVE METALLURGICAL RESULTS AND STEP-OUT DRILLING
Northern Empire Resources Corp. has released positive results from metallurgical tests and stepout drilling at its fully permitted Sterling mine in Nye county, Nevada.
Michael G. Allen, president and chief executive officer, stated: "We acquired the Sterling mine last year as we believed it was a best-in-class asset in terms of jurisdiction, relative grade, permitted status and metallurgical recoveries. Our expectations of Sterling have been exceeded, and with the work completed to date, we feel we have not only confirmed exceptional grades and recoveries, but also discovered several previously unrecognized zones of gold mineralization. These new zones are near the existing permitted pit, as well as within a close range of the permitted facilities. With the recent acquisition of the Goldspar mine located only 600 metres away, we see significant potential for the Sterling mine to increase fundamental value in the company."
Metallurgical test results
The company submitted composites from five core holes to Kappes Cassiday and Associates in Reno for 96-hour bottle roll tests. Results received indicate that, as expected, mineralization from the Sterling mine showed an excellent response to cyanide, with recoveries ranging between 86 per cent and 93 per cent. Also consistent with what is known of the Sterling mineralization is that most of the gold is recovered quickly. In the case of the bottle rolls, most of the gold was recovered in the first two hours of the test.
Previous operators of the Sterling mine recovered approximately 195,000 ounces of gold from 856,000 tonnes stacked with an average grade of 7.44 grams per tonne gold, indicating a very high recovery from what was a run-of-mine (no crushing) heap-leach operation.
Connector zone drilling
The company completed 16 drill holes into a gap in the modelled Sterling mine resource, where widely spaced drilling had previously intercepted anomalous gold. The drill holes were all collared in waste rock discards from the previous underground operations. Fill material encountered in all 16 holes returned gold grades that are potentially economic. Historically, the Sterling mine operated with a 3.5-gram-per-tonne-gold cut-off to the leach pad, and lower-grade material was stockpiled in various waste piles, with this being one of them.
CONNECTOR ZONE DRILLING RESULTSHole IDFromToLengthG/t Au* (m) (m) (m)G18-01 0.009.149.140.85G18-02 0.00 10.67 10.670.44G18-03 0.00 13.72 13.720.51G18-04 0.00 13.72 13.720.49G18-05 0.007.627.620.40G18-06 0.007.627.620.53G18-07 0.009.149.140.66G18-08 0.00 12.19 12.191.37G18-09 0.00 10.67 10.670.70G18-10 0.009.149.140.11G18-11 0.009.149.140.21G18-12 0.006.106.101.12G18-13 0.007.627.620.70G18-14 0.006.106.100.52G18-15 0.003.053.050.46G18-16 0.001.521.520.73* Fire assays reported. All holes drilled at minus 450 giving the true width of approximately 50 per cent of length. Where data are available, cyanide soluble grades averaged greater than 90 per cent of fire assay results.
Reported drilling from the Connector zone returned an average cyanide soluble grade of 0.6 gram per tonne gold. In addition to the waste material results reported herein, encouraging hardrock intervals were encountered in several holes.
ADDITIONAL CONNECTOR ZONE RESULTSHole ID FromToLengthG/t Au*(m) (m) (m)G18-019.14 16.767.620.45G18-02 10.67 12.191.520.20G18-03 13.72 18.294.570.65G18-04 13.72 19.816.100.23G18-146.10 16.76 10.671.11G18-161.523.051.520.21* Cyanide soluble assays reported. True width estimated to be 85 per cent of length.
Sterling exploration drilling
The company drilled a total of 11 additional reverse circulation holes around the Sterling resource to test for possible extensions. Nine holes were drilled to the west of the mineralization, and all hit the target structure.A significant intercept was encountered in STR18-002 as reported below.In addition, two holes were drilled to test for extensions of a possible root structure, extending through the Connector zone and beyond the known mineralization toward the recently acquired Goldspar mine.A significant intercept was encountered in STR18-011.
STERLING EXPLORATION DRILLING RESULTSHole ID FromToLength G/t Au*(m) (m) (m)STR18-00244.20 51.827.621.11STR18-01144.20 47.243.051.93* Cyanide soluble results reported. True width estimated to be 70 per cent of length.
Today's results highlight three new opportunities for resource expansion at the Sterling mine, which include: the Connector zone, including the waste rock piles; near-pit resource expansion; and new exploration target upside. The company intends to explore all these options as it continues to evaluate and optimize the Sterling mine.
About the Sterling mine
The Sterling gold mine was in continuous production from 1980 up to 2015 and is fully permitted for restart. It hosts a National Instrument 43-101 pit-constrained, inferred resource of 231,000 ounces of gold at 3.67 grams per tonne using a 1.0-gram-per-tonne cut-off, with an additional non-pit-constrained resource of 38,000 ounces of gold at 3.38 g/t using a 1.7-gram-per-tonne cut-off. The gold recovery facilities on site, constructed in 2010, are currently in operation where the company recently completed a program to increase recoveries from the existing, active leach pad. The mine is located approximately 10 kilometres south of the company's Crown series of deposits.
About Northern Empire Resources Corp.
Northern Empire Resources is expanding and discovering heap-leach gold deposits in Nevada. The company currently has initial resource statements on four potentially heap-leachable deposits, three of which are past producing, at the 100-per-cent-owned Sterling gold project.
The company is well financed and is aggressively drilling all four deposits in 2018 to increase resources and explore for new discoveries on the district-scale land package. Founders and management have a record of increasing shareholder value through discovery, project development, and mergers and acquisitions with successes that include Newmarket Gold, Kaminak Gold, Underworld Resources and International Royalty Corp.
Sampling and quality assurance/quality control procedures
Samples were submitted to ALS Global in Reno, Nev. Gold grade was determined by fire assay with atomic absorption and gravimetric finish, as well as cyanide soluble methods. Most ALS geochemical laboratories are registered or are pending registration to ISO 9001:2008, and several analytical facilities have received ISO 17025 accreditations for specific laboratory procedures. Northern Empire inserts a series of standards, blanks and field duplicates into the sample stream as part of its quality assurance and quality control procedures, which are continually monitored by the company.
Qualified persons
Michael G. Allen, PGeo, president and chief executive officer of Northern Empire, a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and verified the drilling information contained in this news release. He is a non-independent qualified person for this news release and has verified the drilling data.
Paul M. Sterling, PEng, is an independent consulting metallurgist who has worked at the Sterling mine, is a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101 and has reviewed the metallurgical information in this news release. He is an independent qualified person for this news release and has verified the metallurgical data.
We seek Safe Harbor.
© 2018 Canjex Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.