Jun 25 2019
Scorpio Gold Corporation takes immense pleasure in announcing the receipt and approval of its formerly submitted Water Pollution Control Permit (WPCP).
This permit will enable Scorpio Gold to progress its mining, processing, and exploration operations at its Mineral Ridge project situated in Esmerelda County, Nevada. This chief amendment was approved by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) and authorizes the activities mentioned below:
- Inclusion of 1,500 acres to the current project boundary for exploration purposes
- Extension of the current open pits (Last Chance, Mary, Brodie, and Drinkwater)
- Creation of four new pits (Custer, Custer South, Oromonte 1, and Oromonte 2)
- Creation and advancement of underground mining beneath existing and new pits
- Construction of a 4500 TPD processing facility with CIL recovery and tailings filtration circuits
- Extension of the current heap leach pad to house the conversion of the facility to a dry stack tailings facility
The incorporation of the milling circuit to the Mineral Ridge operation will offer Scorpio Gold the potential to recover around 250,000 ounces of gold from its open pit and heap leach reserves on the basis of the Company’s updated feasibility study as reported on January 4th, 2018. The study delineated 6,855 kT grading 0.017 oz/T proven and possible reserves on the heap leach pad and 3,713 kT grading 0.042 oz/T proven and possible reserves in other open-pit regions on the Mineral Ridge property.
The positive feasibility study showed average gold sales of 33,400 oz/year across an operating interval of 7.5 years, with a net present value (NPV) discounted at 5% (after-tax) of US$35.1 million and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 30.0%.
On January 9th, 2018, a technical report was filed on SEDAR to back the feasibility study. Moreover, the expansion of the project boundary will enable drill testing of near mine exploration targets, which were earlier regarded as off-limits because of their proximity to the current project boundary.
This is a game changer for the Mineral Ridge operation. We now have all the required permits in hand for this expansion and can proceed with sourcing project financing. The addition of a conventional milling circuit to the operation will improve recoveries while lowering mining cutoff grades and increase overall mining volumes. This should aid in the conversion of other existing resources to reserves as well as provide additional toll milling opportunities.
Chris Zerga, President and General Manager, Scorpio Gold Corporation