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Drill results, expected over the next few months and throughout the next two years, will be utilized to further define the known mineralization, to streamline the mine design for Phase II and to expand the resource adjacent to the mine area. The current NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate is 956,800 AuEq ounces (measured and indicated) and 266,340 AuEq ounces (inferred).
On September 10, 2012, an updated NI 43-101 mineral resource estimation was announced for the Moss Property with results as follows:
Scott E. Wilson Consulting Inc. Summarized Updated Resource Estimate: Table 1
Reported at 0.3 gpt Au Cutoff
GradeResource AuEq Au Ag Category AuEq(i) (oz) Au (oz) Ag (oz) Tonnes (gpt) (gpt) (gpt)Measured 427,820 348,000 3,991,000 12,465,000 1.07 0.87 9.96Indicated 528,980 432,000 4,849,000 18,414,000 0.89 0.73 8.19M+I 956,800 780,000 8,840,000 30,879,000 0.96 0.79 8.90Inferred 266,340 216,000 2,517,000 11,915,000 0.70 0.56 6.57
(i) Gold equivalency is based on a silver:gold ratio of 50:1 and assumes 100% recovery of all metals.;(i) Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the Mineral Resources estimated will be converted into Mineral Reserves estimate.;(i) Mineral resource tonnage and contained metal have been rounded to reflect the accuracy of the estimate, and numbers may not add due to rounding.;(i) Resources were based on 28,871 m of drilling in 330 exploration drill holes and 590 meters of channel sampling from surface and underground trenches and cross-cuts. There were a total of 5,872 drill composite samples and 269 rock channel samples used in the estimation of gold and silver. SEWC used Inverse Power Distance (ID3) as the preferred estimation technique for the Moss Project.
Metallurgical Test Work:
Additional metallurgical test-work is currently underway at McLelland Laboratories, Inc. in Nevada, specialists in gold heap leaching operations. This additional testing is designed to improve upon results from the initial analysis of bottle roll and column leach test work analysis outlined in the 2012 Technical Report to an optimized balance of crush size, solution consumption and leach times vs. metallurgical recovery rates. The Company is exploring high pressure roll crushers and agglomeration as a means to unlock gold which can then be recovered through traditional heap leach technology, leading to higher recovery rates. These results will form a key component of the Preliminary Economic Assessment and will be further tested through the Phase I Pilot Plant operations phase.
Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM):
CDM Smith Engineering (CDM) has been retained to assist the Company with the Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management of the Company`s Phase I development plan.
Engineering for Phase I is anticipated to move from a 30% completion rate to a 60% completion rate prior the anticipated release of the Preliminary Economic Assessment at the end of March. This work is being carried out in parallel with completion of the PEA and is intended to substantially advance the engineering progress of the mine design, mine infrastructure and heap leach design in a parallel track, thereby enabling the advancement of the production timeline of Phase I. The "Parallel Tracking" concept, a concept whereby stages of development are done in parallel without waiting for one stage to complete prior to the start of another, was also utilized successfully in mine design and development at Farallon Mining's G9 Mine in Mexico, under the direction of Mr. Dick Whittington, President and CEO Northern Vertex Mining Corp.
