Jul 19 2017
Superior Gold Inc. is pleased to announce that it has commenced processing of up to approximately 155,000 tonnes of oxide material at the Company's Plutonic Gold Mine, 800 kilometres north east of Perth, in Western Australia (Figure 1).
The material ("Sandfire Material") is stockpiled at Sandfire Resources NL's DeGrussa Copper Mine, located approximately 30 kilometres south of the Plutonic Gold Mine (Figure 1). Historic samples taken from this material have provided gold grades of between 0.6 gAu/t and 1.5 gAu/t. The Company will pay Sandfire $7.80 (A$10) per tonne of material removed from the DeGrussa Mine. The plan is to process the material at the Plutonic Gold Mine at the rate of approximately 30,000 tonnes per month.
Chris Bradbrook, President and CEO of Superior Gold stated: "The ability to purchase and process the Sandfire Material comes at a very opportune time. As stated in our press release dated July 11, 2017, we have begun development of the Hermes project, and expect to be processing mineralization from it by 2018. The Hermes mineralization is oxide material, while the underground mineralization at the Plutonic Mine is sulphide. We need to ensure an appropriate balance is maintained between the amounts of these two types of mineralization in order to maximize recoveries. Consequently, processing of the Sandfire Material for the remainder of 2017 will ensure we are able to optimize the relative proportions of oxide and sulphide mineralization once production commences at Hermes. The contribution of the mineralization from Hermes is anticipated to allow us to reach our annual production target of 100,000 ounces of gold."
Full details of the mineral reserves and mineral resources, and production targets, for the Plutonic Gold Mine and Hermes project are included in a NI 43-101 Technical Report dated February 13, 2017 (with an effective date of September 30, 2016) that can be found under the Corporation's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) which was filed on February 15, 2017.
Outlook and Strategy
In the near term, the Company is focused on re-establishing the Plutonic Gold Operations as a stable gold producer capable of producing 100,000 ounces of gold annually. To achieve this goal, Superior Gold intends to focus on its growth strategy which includes:
- Focusing on quality high-grade ounces
- Optimizing recoveries
- Increasing incremental production from underground and open pit sources
- Resource and reserve additions through property wide exploration
- Leveraging the excess mill capacity
With the proceeds raised on the completion of the initial public offering, and the cash being generated by the Plutonic Gold Mine, the Company has the liquidity available to execute on its near-term growth and exploration strategy.
Qualified Person
Scientific and technical information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Simon Lawson who is a member of the AusIMM and a "qualified person" within the meaning of NI 43-101. Mr. Lawson is an employee of the Company and serves as the Chief Geologist.