Golden Phoenix Initiates Full Feasibility Study at Its Mineral Ridge Gold Mine
Wednesday October 24, 5:00 am ET
SPARKS, Nev., Oct. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Golden Phoenix Minerals, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: GPXM - News) is pleased to report that it has engaged the technical team of West Coast Environmental & Engineering to update the existing feasibility study for its 100% owned Mineral Ridge gold and silver property, located in Esmeralda County, Nevada.
Mineral Ridge represents one of the richest and largest historic gold camps in Nevada, with over 600,000 ounces of gold produced to date. The majority of past production was mined underground and processed through conventional milling operations. Mining began in 1864 and was in full production during 1941 when the operation was closed by the government in order to redeploy manpower for the war effort. During 80 years of underground production, the gold-bearing material had an overall average grade of 0.273 ounce per ton. The mine was reopened under new ownership in 1989, and since then an additional ~25% of historic production was mined from open pits, starting at a grade of approximately 0.08 ounce per ton.
Golden Phoenix acquired Mineral Ridge in 2000, operating it as a heap leach for two years before placing the mine on care and maintenance in 2005 to allow the Company to focus on startup of the Ashdown molybdenum mine. With Kent Aveson recently leaving Barrick to head up operations at the Ashdown mine, Don Prahl, COO of Golden Phoenix, has returned from Ashdown to corporate headquarters. Don will now bring his gold operations experience as former General Manager of Barrick's Goldstrike mine to bear on the preparation of a mine plan for Mineral Ridge. Concurrently, a program of infill, step-out and exploration drilling on the property is being developed.
In 1995, Mineral Resource Development Inc. prepared portions of a feasibility study for Mineral Ridge, led by Behre Dolbear. Based on mineralized material at a 0.015 ounce per ton cut-off, the study tallied over 500,000 ounces of in situ gold. This represents a non-economic, global mineral inventory. The economics outlined in that report will be updated before current reserves compliant with SEC Guide 7 and NI 43-101 are determined. Gold contained within the existing pits, stockpiles and leach pad, as well as accessible from over 50 miles of underground workings, will be examined in the study, with the initial work focusing on material accessible from the surface.
Don Prahl stated, "If you take the global metal budget measured by historic mining at Mineral Ridge and add it to the inventory remaining in the ground, it totals over one million ounces of gold. That represents a very robust Nevada-based gold system that is 100% controlled by Golden Phoenix. Our Technical Services Group has identified strong exploration potential that could expand the defined mineralization significantly. With the current market environment for gold, I believe the time for reestablishing Mineral Ridge could not be better."
David Caldwell, CEO, added, "The resumption of work at Mineral Ridge marks a very important milestone for our company as we continue to build on our Ashdown success. Don was hired over a year ago with Mineral Ridge in mind, and I look forward to putting 'Gold' back in our name as we grow towards becoming a significant Nevada-based producer."
Please visit the Golden Phoenix website at golden-phoenix.com
Golden Phoenix Minerals, Inc. is a Nevada-based mining company committed to deliver value to its shareholders by acquiring, developing and mining superior precious and strategic metal deposits in North America using competitive business practices balanced by principles of ethical stewardship. Golden Phoenix owns the Mineral Ridge gold and silver property near Silver Peak, Nevada, the Northern Champion molybdenum mine in Ontario, Canada, and is manager/operator and majority owner of the Ashdown Project LLC gold and molybdenum property held jointly by Golden Phoenix Minerals, Inc. and Win-Eldrich Mines, Ltd. of Toronto, Canada through its US subsidiary, Win-Eldrich Gold, Inc.
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