TORONTO, Feb. 26, 2019 /CNW/ - Anaconda Mining Inc.
("Anaconda" or the "Company") – (TSX: ANX) (OTCQX: ANXGF) is
pleased to provide an update on the development activities at its
100%-owned Goldboro Gold Project ("Goldboro" or the "Project") in
Nova Scotia, Canada. Since
publishing the Goldboro
preliminary economic assessment (the "PEA") dated March 2, 2018 and updated on October 25, 2018, Anaconda has been executing a
10,000-tonne underground bulk sample (the "Bulk Sample"), advancing
its evaluation of Goldboro to the
feasibility study stage and permitting the Project.
"Less than two years ago, we acquired the Goldboro Gold
Project at a tremendous value. In that short period of time, we
have produced a positive preliminary economic assessment,
registered the project for permitting, completed mining a
10,000-tonne Bulk Sample, and increased the deposit to over 600,000
ounces of Measured and Indicated Resources and over 450,000 ounces
of Inferred Resources. We look forward to continued progress in
2019 with the commencement of a feasibility study and the
continuation of permitting, with the aim of obtaining the requisite
permits to begin construction in 2020."
~ Dustin Angelo, President and
CEO, Anaconda Mining Inc.
Bulk Sample Update
At the end of January 2019,
Anaconda completed the mining phase of the Bulk Sample and the
underground mining contractor, Cementation Canada Inc., has
demobilized from site. Access to the mine has been secured and site
closure activities for the Bulk Sample are scheduled to be
completed in the spring. The tonnes extracted for the Bulk Sample
came from a combination of development and stoping. A long hole
mining method was used to mine three stopes, ranging from one to
four metres wide, within belts 1 and 2 of the Boston-Richardson gold system. The stopes tested the
use of up-holes and down-holes as well as conventional raising and
drop raising. Sill drifts and most of the stope access development
was done within mineralized zones of the belts to minimize the
amount of waste rock extracted.
The Company intends to barge the material to Point Rousse,
Newfoundland, in the second
quarter of 2019, once transport conditions are favorable, where the
material will be processed at Anaconda's Pine Cove Mill. The
Company will report full Bulk Sample results shortly
thereafter.
Commencement of the Goldboro Feasibility Study and
Conclusions from Trade-Off Studies
In February 2019, Anaconda
commenced a feasibility study of the Project (the "Study"), which
will incorporate the data from the Bulk Sample and include the
results of the first 22,000 metres of diamond drilling that was
completed from June 2017 to
December 2018. The Company also
expects to generate a new mineral resource estimate as part of the
Study, which is expected to be completed in Q3 2019. The Company
has retained WSP Canada Inc. ("WSP") to lead the Study and work on
the mine design, project infrastructure, and economics. Ausenco
Solutions Canada Inc. ("Ausenco") has also been engaged to support
WSP with respect to process optimization and mill design for the
Study (Ausenco was involved in the engineering and construction of
Atlantic Gold Corporation's mill at the Moose River Consolidated
Project in Nova Scotia). The Study
will also incorporate additional metallurgical testing, performed
by Base Metallurgical Laboratories Ltd, based in Kamloops, British Columbia, using samples
taken from the Boston-Richardson and East Goldbrook gold systems
during the Bulk Sample extraction and recent diamond drilling. The
Study is expected to be completed and filed in Q4 2019.
Following the update of the Goldboro Mineral Resource Estimate
published in December 2018, Anaconda
initiated certain trade-off studies to determine the optimal mining
and milling scenarios for the Study. Given the predominately narrow
vein, high-grade nature of the deposit, Anaconda has determined the
optimal approach for the Project to be based on the use of
selective mining methods at a processing throughput rate of
approximately 575 tonnes per day. This confirms the initial mine
development and operation scenario contemplated in the PEA, where
the Project begins open pit mining for two to three years before
transitioning to an underground mining operation for the remaining
mine life.
Furthermore, due to the growth of the Mineral Resource Estimate
at Goldboro demonstrated from its
recent drill programs, and the Company's confidence in its ability
to continue to substantially expand the deposit, Anaconda has
optimized its processing strategy for the Study, which will now
contemplate a full-scale milling facility at Goldboro that will produce a doré bar. This is
different than the processing scenario in the PEA, which was based
on shipping concentrate to its Pine Cove Mill in Newfoundland.
Anaconda also evaluated two options for ore processing and
processing plant construction: the use of a gravity circuit,
followed by concentration of the gravity tails by flotation and
gold recovery via leaching; and gravity concentration followed by
whole ore leaching. Both options assume a full-scale processing
facility at Goldboro, producing a
doré bar from gravity and leach concentrates. Anaconda ultimately
concluded the preferred scenario to be gravity concentration
followed by whole ore leaching, which will be evaluated further as
part of the Study.
Permitting Process Update
Since February of 2018, Anaconda has been working through the
permitting process in the Province of Nova Scotia, and has engaged the assistance of
GHD Limited ("GHD"), who had worked with Atlantic Gold Corporation
during its permitting of the Moose River Consolidated Project. In
August 2018, the Company submitted
its Environmental Assessment application and is currently compiling
further information required by the various regulators in the Terms
of the Reference ("TOR") issued on October
15, 2018. In addition, the Company has submitted the
application for the Crownland Lease and is advancing the
applications for a Mineral Lease and Industrial Approval. Based on
progress to date and continued communication with relevant
government departments and regulators, Anaconda expects to secure
all permits by the end of Q1 2020, with the aim of beginning site
construction in mid-2020 with commercial production to follow in
mid-2021.
A version of this press release will be available in French on
Anaconda's website (www.anacondamining.com) in two to three
business days.
ABOUT ANACONDA
Anaconda Mining is a TSX and OTCQX-listed gold mining,
development, and exploration company, focused in the prospective
Atlantic Canadian jurisdictions of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. The Company operates the Point
Rousse Project located in the Baie Verte Mining District in
Newfoundland, comprised of the
Stog'er Tight Mine, the Pine Cove open pit mine, the Argyle Mineral
Resource, the fully-permitted Pine Cove Mill and tailings facility,
and approximately 9,150 hectares of prospective gold-bearing
property. Anaconda is also developing the Goldboro Gold Project in
Nova Scotia, a high-grade Mineral
Resource, subject to a 2018 a preliminary economic assessment which
demonstrates strong project economics. The Company also has a
wholly owned exploration company that is solely focused on early
stage exploration in Newfoundland
and New Brunswick.
GOLDBORO PROJECT MINERAL
RESOURCE UPDATE AND PRELIMINARY ECONOMIC ANALYSIS for Anaconda
Mining Inc., dated October 25, 2018,
and authored by independent qualified persons Todd McCracken, P.Geo., Shane Ghouralal, MBA, P.Eng., and Sebastian Bertelegni, P.Eng., all of WSP Canada
Inc., J. Dean Thibault, P.Eng., of
Thibault & Associates Inc., and non-independent qualified
person Gordana Slepcev, P.Eng., of Anaconda.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release contains "forward-looking information"
within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation.
Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use
of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", or "does
not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates",
"forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "does not anticipate", or
"believes" or variations of such words and phrases or state that
certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would",
"might", or "will be taken", "occur", or "be achieved".
Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates
of management at the date the information is made, and is based on
a number of assumptions and is subject to known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results,
level of activity, performance or achievements of Anaconda to be
materially different from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking information, including risks associated with the
exploration, development and mining such as economic factors as
they effect exploration, future commodity prices, changes in
foreign exchange and interest rates, actual results of current
production, development and exploration activities, government
regulation, political or economic developments, environmental
risks, permitting timelines, capital expenditures, operating or
technical difficulties in connection with development activities,
employee relations, the speculative nature of gold exploration and
development, including the risks of diminishing quantities of
grades of resources, contests over title to properties, and changes
in project parameters as plans continue to be refined as well as
those risk factors discussed in the annual information form for the
fiscal year ended December 31, 2017,
available on www.sedar.com. Although Anaconda has attempted to
identify important factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those contained in forward-looking
information, there may be other factors that cause results not to
be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance
that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results
and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in
such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue
reliance on forward-looking information. Anaconda does not
undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in
accordance with applicable securities laws.
SOURCE Anaconda Mining Inc.
