Premier
Gold Reports Updated NI 43-101 Resource For Hardrock Project
Premier Gold Mines Limited (TSX-PG) is
very pleased to announce that an updated National Instrument (NI)
43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate has been completed by Micon International Limited for its 70%-owned Hardrock Project, located near Geraldton
in Northwestern Ontario. The estimate reports a significant increase in
all categories, including the use of a measured category for the first
time and is summarized in Table 1. All final data available as of
February 28, 2011 were used in completing the estimate. In 2010, there
were 114,000 metres of drilling at Hardrock on multiple near surface and deeper zones.
Many of these remain open for expansion and are the subject of an
ongoing drill program in 2011.
Highlights of Micon's new mineral resource estimate include:
- A
269% increase in Measured and Indicated resources to 2.5 million
ounces.
- A
164% increase in Inferred resources to 1.1 million ounces.
- A
30% increase in the "potential open pit" Measured and
Indicated resource grade to 2.37 grams per tonne
gold (g/t Au).
- A
37% increase in the "potential open pit" Inferred
resource grade to 2.48 g/t Au.
- Some
40% of the Measured and Indicated resource ounces are categorized
as "Measured."
- A
"Whittle-Pit" analysis suggesting a strip ratio on
potential open pit mineral resources of 2.1 to 1.
- The
Kailey ("potential open pit")
Deposit resource is included and contains 127,000 ounces of
Measured and Indicated Resources at 1.57 g/t Au and 10,000 ounces
of Inferred resources at 1.48 g/t Au.
Premier President & CEO,
Ewan Downie states "This robust mineral
resource estimate at Hardrock is the result
of a great team effort and 24 months of aggressive exploration. This
resource estimate is in line with our goal of developing a significant
deposit, potentially capable of mid-tier gold production. With 8 drills
currently active on the Property and several zones still open for
expansion, we continue to see considerable upside in this
resource."
In 2011, more than 70,000 metres of drilling
is planned to continue to expand and upgrade these resources.
Additionally, regional exploration in the search of the "next
one" in the Hardrock area is underway.
The near-term goal is to secure permits for Advanced Exploration, which
will include de-watering of the historic mine workings and the
construction of an Exploration Ramp. The ramp will allow underground
drilling to be completed in support of a preliminary economic
assessment to evaluate the potential for a future mining operation to
be established at Hardrock.
The mineral resources estimated for the Hardrock
project (both the Hardrock and Kailey Deposits) are set out in Table 1 below. They
have been subdivided into potentially underground or open pit mineable
resources and reported using different cutoff grades.
Table
1 - Hardrock Project Indicated & Inferred
Mineral Resources
Material
|
Classification
|
Cut-off (au g/t)
|
Grade Estimate (Au g/t)
|
Resource Tonnes
|
Contained Au Ozs
|
Open Pit
|
Measured
|
0.83
|
2.446
|
6,865,000
|
540,000
|
Open Pit
|
Indicated
|
0.83
|
2.280
|
5,833,000
|
427,500
|
Open Pit
|
Measured + Indicated
|
0.83
|
2.370
|
12,698,000
|
967,500
|
Open Pit
|
Inferred
|
0.83
|
2.483
|
615,000
|
49,200
|
Underground
|
Measured
|
2.80
|
5.993
|
2,312,000
|
445,800
|
Underground
|
Indicated
|
2.80
|
5.827
|
5,757,000
|
1,078,500
|
Underground
|
Measured + Indicated
|
2.80
|
5.875
|
8,069,000
|
1,524,300
|
Underground
|
Inferred
|
2.80
|
5.397
|
6,187,000
|
1,073,500
|
OP + UG
|
Measured
|
---
|
3.340
|
9,177,000
|
985,800
|
OP + UG
|
Indicated
|
---
|
4.042
|
11,590,000
|
1,506,000
|
OP + UG
|
Measured + Indicated
|
---
|
3.732
|
20,767,000
|
2,491,800
|
OP + UG
|
Inferred
|
---
|
5.133
|
6,802,000
|
1,122,700
|
(i) Figures may not sum due to rounding
1. Mineral
resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated
economic viability. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially
affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, socio-political,
marketing, or other relevant issues.
2. The
mineral resources were estimated using a block model with parent blocks
of 25x30x10 sub-blocked to a minimum size of 5x3x2 and using Inverse
Distance Cubed methods for grade estimation. A total of 12 individual
mineralized domains were identified and estimated using an average top
cut of 48 g/t Au. For a "potential open pit" mineral resource
a cut-off grade of 0.83 g/t Au is based on a Whittle optimized pit
shell and a mining recovery of 100%. For potential underground mineral
resources a cut-off grade of 2.80 g/t Au and an assumed mining recovery
of 100% outside of the potential open pit mining areas was used.
3. The
quantity and grade of reported inferred resources in this estimation
are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define
these inferred resources as an indicated or measured mineral resource
and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading
them to an indicated or measured mineral resource category.
4. The
mineral resources in this press release were estimated using the
Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM
Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines
prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and
adopted by CIM Council November 27, 2010.
Tables 3 and 4 below,
present the tonnes and grades from the block
model used for the Mineral Resource estimate at a range of cut-off
grades in order to demonstrate the sensitivity of the estimates. The
cut-off value of 0.83 g/t Au for "potential open pit" and
2.80 g/t Au for deeper, potential underground mineralization, was
derived using the parameters listed in Table 2 below.
Table
2 - Assumed operating costs, metal pricing, and metallurgical recovery
used to determine cut-off grades for the Hardrock
Mineral Resource Estimate.
Item
|
Units
|
Cost
|
Open Pit Mining Cost
|
CAN$/All Material Tonne
|
$3.00
|
Underground Mining Cost
|
CAN$/Ore Tonne
|
$60.00
|
Processing Cost
|
CAN$/Ore Tonne
|
$20.00
|
G&A Cost
|
CAN$/Ore Tonne
|
$1.00
|
Gold Price
|
US$/Troy Ounce
|
$1,000.00
|
Mill Recovery
|
Percent
|
90%
|
Exchange Rate
|
US$ to CAN$
|
1.000
|
Table 3 - Sensitivity of the "Potential Open Pit" Resource
Estimates at Various Cutoff Grades
Measured and
Indicated Resources
Cutoff (Au g/t)
|
Au (g/t)
|
Resource Tonnes
|
Contained Au
Ozs
|
0.5
|
1.848
|
18,201,000
|
1,081,500
|
0.8
|
2.327
|
13,055,000
|
976,900
|
1.0
|
2.611
|
10,896,000
|
914,600
|
1.5
|
3.422
|
6,871,000
|
756,100
|
2.0
|
4.181
|
4,744,000
|
637,800
|
2.5
|
4.890
|
3,480,000
|
547,200
|
3.0
|
5.591
|
2,626,000
|
472,200
|
3.5
|
6.269
|
2,040,000
|
411,100
|
4.0
|
6.961
|
1,601,000
|
358,500
|
4.5
|
7.703
|
1,259,000
|
311,800
|
5.0
|
8.456
|
1,004,000
|
273,000
|
Inferred Resources
Cutoff (Au g/t)
|
Au (g/t)
|
Resource Tonnes
|
Contained Au Ozs
|
0.5
|
1.848
|
937,000
|
55,700
|
0.8
|
2.437
|
633,000
|
49,600
|
1.0
|
2.681
|
547,000
|
47,100
|
1.5
|
3.629
|
328,000
|
38,300
|
2.0
|
4.969
|
193,000
|
30,800
|
2.5
|
6.745
|
117,000
|
25,400
|
3.0
|
8.792
|
78,000
|
22,000
|
3.5
|
11.318
|
53,000
|
19,500
|
4.0
|
13.473
|
42,000
|
18,000
|
4.5
|
16.179
|
32,000
|
16,800
|
5.0
|
18.646
|
27,000
|
15,900
|
Table 4 - Sensitivity of the Potential Underground Resource
Estimates at Various Cutoff Grades
Measured and
Indicated Resources
Cutoff (Au g/t)
|
Au (g/t)
|
Resource Tonnes
|
Contained Au
Ozs
|
2.0
|
4.567
|
12,848,000
|
1,886,500
|
2.5
|
5.389
|
9,497,000
|
1,645,700
|
3.0
|
6.222
|
7,226,000
|
1,445,700
|
3.5
|
7.074
|
5,623,000
|
1,278,900
|
4.0
|
7.864
|
4,547,000
|
1,149,600
|
4.5
|
8.719
|
3,678,000
|
1,031,300
|
5.0
|
9.548
|
3,044,000
|
934,500
|
Inferred Resources
Cutoff (Au g/t)
|
Au (g/t)
|
Resource Tonnes
|
Contained Au Ozs
|
2.0
|
4.410
|
9,145,000
|
1,296,600
|
2.5
|
5.080
|
6,989,000
|
1,141,500
|
3.0
|
5.690
|
5,533,000
|
1,012,500
|
3.5
|
6.302
|
4,428,000
|
897,400
|
4.0
|
6.904
|
3,588,000
|
796,600
|
4.5
|
7.698
|
2,763,000
|
683,800
|
5.0
|
8.342
|
2,272,000
|
609,400
|
Hardrock Deposit
The Hardrock Project is located approximately
4 kilometres south of the town of Geraldton, Ontario and is host to several
past-producing mines which collectively produced more than 3 million
ounces of gold from depths primarily within 600 metres
of surface between 1938 and 1968. Underground resources are located
proximal to and below the historic mine workings. New discoveries
including the High-Grade North Zone and the F2 East Zone will be the
focus of the planned underground drill program. The current Mineral
Resource estimate uses 11 identified mineralized domains to develop a
combination potential open pit and underground mineral resource. The Hardrock Project benefits from development
advantages with the Trans-Canada Highway, Trans-Canada Pipeline, and major
power lines running through, or in close proximity to, the Project
site. Significant services and a skilled labour
pool exist with several communities located within 30 kilometres. The Hardrock
Project is operated under a joint venture with Goldstone Resources Inc.
(TSX:GRC).
Kailey Deposit
The Kailey deposit is located about 2 km
north of the Hardrock deposit at the location
of the former historically operated Little Long Lac gold mine. The Kailey mineralized zone is a small lower-grade
potential open pit mineral resource.
Resource Statement
The mineral resource estimates in this press release use the Canadian
Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), Standards on
Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines prepared by CIM
Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by CIM Council on
November 27, 2010. The mineral resource estimates provided in this
report are classified as "measured", "indicated",
or "inferred" as defined by CIM.
According to the CIM definitions, a Mineral Resource must be
potentially economic in that it must be "in such form and quantity
and of such grade or quality that it has reasonable prospects for
economic extraction". For the Hardrock
deposit, a gold cut-off grade was assigned based on economic
assumptions and was used in the resource estimations. Table 2 above
shows the economic parameters used in the gold cut-off grade
calculation.
The estimated costs for the Hardrock deposit,
mined as an open pit, are $3.00 + $20.00 + $1.00 = $24.00/t milled
which works out to an estimated gold cut-off of 0.83 g/t. The estimated
costs for the Hardrock deposit, mined as an
underground, are $60.00 + $20.00 + $1.00 = $81.00/t milled which works
out to an estimated gold cut-off of 2.80 g/t. Resources reported in
this press release use an estimated potential open pit gold cut-off of
0.83 g/t and for a potential underground use 2.80 g/t.
The mineral resource estimate presented in Table 1 is effective as of 5
April 2011. The mineral resources listed in Table 1 were estimated by
Sam J. Shoemaker, Jr., M.AusIMM, and
Registered Member-SME. Mr. Shoemaker is a QP as defined in NI 43-101
and is independent of Premier Gold.
Stephen McGibbon, P. Geo., is the Qualified
Person for the information contained in this press release and is a
Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101.
Premier Gold Mines Limited is a well financed
Canadian-based mineral exploration and development company with several
projects and deposits in Northwestern Ontario and a joint venture in
Mexico. In the Red Lake gold mining camp, two are operated in joint
venture with Red Lake Gold Mines. The company also owns strategic
projects located in the heart of the Carlin Trend, Nevada, on the main Musselwhite Gold Mine trend, and holds a 70%
interest in the Hardrock Project.
For further information, please contact:
Ewan Downie, President & CEO
Phone: 807-346-1390
Fax: 807-346-0100
e-mail: Info@premiergoldmines.com
Web Site: www.premiergoldmines.com
The
statements made in this Press Release may contain forward-looking
statements that may involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual
events or results could differ materially from the Company's
expectations and projections.
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