Some older PRs GOOD for demonstrating timelines on drill plan, drill plan execution and drill plan finalization.
First
PR 17 Nov 03 Phase 2 drill plan
THEN
PR 25 Feb 04 SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF FIRST DRILLING PROGRAM
PR 17 Nov 03 Phase 2 drill plan
GOLDEN PHOENIX MINERALS UPDATES PROGRESS AT ITS MINERAL RIDGE GOLD MINE;
ANNOUNCES PHASE 2 DRILLING PROGRAM
Press Release #11-2003
Press Release #11 - 2003 RENO, NV, November 17, 2003 -
RENO, NV, November 17, 2003 – Golden Phoenix Minerals, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: GPXM - News), a mineral property development company, announced today that Phase 1 gold production at its Mineral Ridge gold mine has significantly improved and that new ore is being placed on the leach pads to further enhance the overall gold recovery. Mineral Ridge is located in Esmeralda County, Nevada.
Phase 1 gold and silver recovery began after the Company filed its $2.7 million reclamation bond in late July. The amount of gold and silver dore¢ recovered since Phase 1 began is 618 ounces. The Company has resolved the issues relating to the restart of its gold leaching, and gold recovery is accelerating at a pace that is projected to achieve the Company's 1,000 ounces production per month.
In meeting this goal, Golden Phoenix has made improvements to the leach circuit equipment, increased the quality and quantity of cyanide in solution, and is transporting stockpiled ore and previously blasted ore from the Brodie Pit to the leach pad. Presently the leach pad contains more than 1.6 million tons of crushed ore and has a design capacity of 6 million tons. The combination of equipment upgrades, rising cyanide saturation, and the addition of ore from existing stockpiles will continue to support gold production and prepare for the mining and transporting of new ore material to the pad over the coming year.
“We are on track to achieving our Phase 1 gold production objectives,” said Michael Fitzsimonds, President and CEO of Golden Phoenix Minerals, "and we can now look ahead to Phase 2. The staff has been directed to design an aggressive multi-phased drilling plan for both reserve expansion and step-out exploration holes throughout the Mineral Ridge property. Work on that drilling plan design has already commenced. It is the Company’s intention that we begin drilling within the next 1 to 2 months.”
"There are more than 50 miles of existing tunnels and two partially-mined open pits on the Mineral Ridge property from which 665,000 ounces of gold have been previously recovered,” said Steve Craig, Company Vice President and Chief Geologist. “This represents less than 10% of the mineable land area available for exploration, and we are developing a long-term, multi-stage drill program to measure the existing gold that remains. We look forward to working this mine for many years to come."
The Mineral Ridge gold mine currently has a proven/probable ore reserve of 2.66 million tons averaging 0.079 ounces gold per ton for a total of 209,000 ounces. These reserves are contained within an overall drilled mineral inventory of 11.4 million tons grading 0.047 ounces gold per ton.
Golden Phoenix Minerals Inc. is a mineral-property development company headquartered in Reno, Nevada. It specializes in acquiring and consolidating large, advanced-stage properties with potential for near-term production and good resource development potential. Acquisition and development emphasis is on deposits containing gold, silver, copper and other strategic minerals that are located in Nevada and the western United States.
PR 25 Feb 04 SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF FIRST DRILLING PROGRAM
GOLDEN PHOENIX MINERALS ANNOUNCES SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF FIRST DRILLING PROGRAM AT MINERAL RIDGE GOLD MINE -- Further Testing Planned; Key Blast Holes Mined -- PR #04-04 RENO, NV, February 25, 2004 – Golden Phoenix Minerals, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: GPXM - News), which specializes in the acquisition and development of deposits in the western United States containing gold, silver, copper and other strategic minerals, announced today it has completed its first drill program at the Mineral Ridge, Nevada, gold mine and assays of all intervals have been completed. Blast holes in the Brodie pit which returned significant gold values have been shot and partially mined with the ore being placed onto the leach pad and high-grade stockpiles. The Company drilled 20 exploration holes with 3,825 feet drilled, and 76 in-pit blast holes with 1,355 feet drilled. The exploration holes tested seven areas including the Blue Light, Brodie, Oro Monte, Deep Springs, West Drinkwater Deep, East Drinkwater Deep, and the Mary LC. The exploration area that returned the best results was Blue Light. The five holes drilled into this target returned ore grade gold values in all holes with the best reported being BL-1 with 25 feet of 0.15 ounces gold per ton (opt) beginning at 50 feet (high value of 0.348 opt Au) and BL-4 with 15 feet of 0.62 opt Au beginning at 65 feet (high value of 1.38 opt Au). Cutoff grade for these calculations is 0.02 opt Au. Drilling only one hole to test a deeper zone in the West Drinkwater found low-grade mineralization in the target. However this hole did penetrate 55 feet of 0.144 opt Au beginning at 35 feet (highest value 0.403 opt Au) in the main Drinkwater ore zone. This mineralization is scheduled for mining this year as the pit is deepened during Golden Phoenix’ planned mining operations. In the Mary LC area, four holes tested the target to get better definition of an underground mineable ore zone. The best of these holes was LC-2 with 15 feet of 0.471 opt Au beginning at 155 feet (high value of 0.943 opt Au). The other holes showed encouraging values but were not above an underground mining cut-off grade of 0.2 opt Au. The 76 Brodie blast holes were drilled on 15-foot centers and averaged 15 to 20 feet deep, and were drilled on the south side of the pit to prepare the area for mining. The best assay reported was 5 feet of 4.7 ounces per ton gold followed by another 5 feet of 1.0 ounce per ton gold. Nearby holes contained similar mineralization but not all blast holes contained high-grade gold ore mineralization. The high-grade has been stockpiled for future processing, while the remaining lower grade mineralization has been sent to the pad for leaching. “Numerous drill targets remain to be tested on the Mineral Ridge property,” said Steven Craig, Vice President of Golden Phoenix. “We still have the down dip extension of the Drinkwater and Mary deposits, which have either encouraging underground sampling or limited drilling in these open ended targets, the Deep Springs Hill target, step out drilling on the Oro Monte/Chieftain zone, and extensions of the Brodie/Blue Light zone. It is our goal to develop a much larger reserve over time on the property.” Golden Phoenix Minerals Inc. is a mineral-property development company headquartered in Reno, Nevada. It specializes in acquiring and consolidating large, advanced-stage properties with potential for near-term production and good resource development potential. Acquisition and development emphasis is on deposits containing gold, silver, copper and other strategic minerals that are located in Nevada and the western United States.
Visit the Golden Phoenix Web site at golden-phoenix.com Forward-Looking Statements. Certain statements included herein may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential future plans and objectives of the company, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors. These risks and uncertainties, and certain other related factors, are discussed in the Company's Form 10-KSB, Form 10-QSB and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are made as of this date and the Company assumes no obligation to update such forward- looking statements as a result of a number of factors. |
