Scorpio Gold receives permit to advance mining, processing and exploration activities at Mineral Ridge

This major modification was approved by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) and authorises the following activities:

• Addition of 1500 acres to the existing project boundary for exploration purposes.
• Expansion of the existing open pits (Mary, Last Chance, Drinkwater and Brodie).
• Development of four new pits (Custer, Custer South, Oromonte 1 and Oromonte 2).
• Development and advancement of underground mining below existing and new pits.
• Construction of a 4500 tpd processing facility with CIL recovery and tailings filtration circuits.
• Expansion of the existing heap leach pad to accommodate for the conversion of the facility to a dry stack tailings facility.

The addition of the milling circuit to the Mineral Ridge operation will provide Scorpio Gold the ability to recover ~250 000 oz of gold from its open pit and heap leach reserves based on the company’s updated feasibility study as announced 4 January 2018. The study outlined 6855 kt grading 0.017 oz/T proven & probable reserves on the heap leach pad and 3713 kt grading 0.042 oz/T proven and probable reserves in other open-pit areas on the Mineral Ridge property. The positive feasibility study indicated average gold sales of 33 400 oz/yr over an operating period 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%. A technical report to support the feasibility study was filed on SEDAR on 9 January 2018. The expansion of the project boundary will also allow for drill testing of near mine exploration targets, which were previously considered off limits due to their proximity to the existing project boundary.

Chris Zerga, President and General Manager, comments: “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 aide in the conversion of other existing resources to reserves as well as provide additional toll milling opportunities.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/25062019/scorpio-gold-receives-permit-to-advance-mining-processing-and-exploration-activities-at-mineral-ridge/