Premier Gold Mines (TSX: PG; US-OTC: PIRGF) has poured first gold at its El Nino underground mine in Nevada.
The El Nino mine is part of the South Arturo mine project, which is a joint venture between Premier (40%) and Nevada Gold Mines (60%). Nevada Gold Mines is owned by Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) and Newmont Goldcorp (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM).
South Arturo is 40 km northwest of the town of Carlin in Elko Country.
El Nino, situated down plunge of South Arturo's phase-two pit, where mining concluded in 2017, was developed on time and on budget and started processing ore ahead of schedule, with the first gold pour reported on Sept. 26. Gold production is expected to ramp up in the second half of this year.
Premier's president and CEO Ewan Downie said in a statement that the company plans to continue surface and underground drilling to delineate and expand mineralization at El Nino.
In the meantime, Premier and its joint-venture partner, Nevada Gold Mines, are developing a second open-pit mine - the phase-one open pit - at South Arturo, and production is expected to begin in the second half of next year. Pre-stripping of the open pit and work to optimize heap-leach material continues before the company proceeds with the development of a heap-leach facility on the property.
The two open-pit mines and El Nino underground mine are on the site of the historical Dee pit that produced 605,000 oz. gold from 1984 to 1999. From 2015 to 2017, the phase-two pit produced 365,955 oz. gold. The joint venture's phase-one open-pit mine that is being built is the extension of the past-producing Dee pit.
Total measured and indicated resources at South Arturo stand at of 9.22 million tonnes grading 1.05 grams gold per tonne for 310,000 contained oz. gold. Inferred resources add 760,000 tonnes grading 1.3 grams gold per tonne for 32,000 contained oz. gold.
At press time, Premier's shares were trading at $1.83 with a 52-week trading range of $1.39 to $2.55. The company has 210 million common shares outstanding for a $385-million market capitalization.