VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 18,
2023 /CNW/ - Southern Empire Resources Corp.
("Southern Empire") (TSXV: SMP) announces that it has received
permitting from the Secretaría del Medio Ambiente
y Recursos Naturales ("SEMARNAT"; México's Ministry of
Environment and Natural Resources) for 30 exploration drill hole
sites at its Centauro Gold Project located in the State of Chihuahua, México.
The Centauro Gold Project, which has undergone numerous, but
low-density, historical exploration work programs along a 2.5 by
1.5 kilometre (km) corridor, including 27 widely-spaced (200 meter
(m) to >700m spacing) NQ diameter
core drill holes totaling 5,824.5m.
Previous operators (Silver Spruce Resources Inc., 2007 to 2009 and
Mundoro Capital Inc., 2012 and 2013) also undertook various
geological mapping, geochemistry and geophysics campaigns. The new
permitting provides for 30 new exploration drill sites as shown in
Figure 1.
The Centauro Gold Project exhibits significant potential to host
"Carlin-style" and/or epithermal precious metal mineralization
based on extensive brecciation, silicification and argillization of
the Tertiary-age Ahuichila Formation conglomerate, a strongly
coincident gold ("Au"), arsenic ("As"), antimony ("Sb"), mercury
("Hg"), thallium, silver, barium soil geochemical signature
associated with a silicified mesa "cap" covering 2.5 km along the
strike of the main zone, outcrops containing arsenopyrite, realgar,
orpiment and stibnite, and low to non-anomalous base metal
values.
The environmental permitting work was completed by the
geo-environmental consulting firm Segeo Ambientales Mx. of
Hermosillo.
Oro Cruz Project – Permitting Update
On September 1, 2023, the Bureau
of Land Management (BLM) issued a Decision Record and a Finding of
No Significant Impact (FONSI) regarding the Environmental
Assessment/Mitigated Negative Declaration (EA/MND) for the Oro Cruz
Project. The EA/MND, and other associated documents were posted for
public review online at the BLM NEPA Register. These documents
are also available for public review at the BLM El Centro Field
Office located at 1661 South 4th Street in El Centro, California. The BLM's September 1, 2023 decision is subject to a 30-day
public appeal period.
The Imperial County Planning Commission (ICPC) held a hearing on
September 13, 2023 to make
determinations regarding the Oro Cruz Project, including, but not
limited to, resolutions adopting the EA/MND, the Mitigated Negative
Declaration for the Reclamation Plan, and the Reclamation Plan. The
passing of these resolutions was deferred, awaiting further
information to be provided by the BLM to the ICPC and as such, the
hearing was adjourned to a yet to be determined date.
Qualified Person (QP)
The scientific and technical information contained in this news
release has been prepared, reviewed and approved by David Tupper, P.Geo. (British Columbia), Southern Empire's VP
Exploration and a Qualified Person (QP) within the context of
Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101;
Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101).
About Southern Empire Resources Corp.
Southern Empire is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and
development of metals and minerals deposits in the American
southwest and northern México; particularly focused on those that
are amenable to lower-cost metal extraction methodologies such as
heap leaching. To achieve its goals, Southern Empire has assembled
a board of directors, all veterans in mine and corporate finance,
exploration, permitting, development, and operations that will
guide the future growth of the company.
In northern México (Sonora,
Chihuahua, and Durango states), Southern Empire has a leachable
copper project and three gold projects, which are:
- Centauro Gold Project, Escalón, Chihuahua;
- Pedro Gold Project, Mapimí, Durango; and,
- La Loma Gold Project, Nazas,
Durango.
These gold projects are located along what Southern Empire is
calling the Mapimí Gold Corridor, a 150-kilometre,
southeast-trending Oligocene tectonostratigraphic belt, the
regional geological setting of which, together with numerous
coincident geological, mineralogical and geochemical
characteristics as observed at Centauro, Pedro and La Loma, strongly supports the proposition
that the Mapimí Gold Corridor has significant potential to host
bulk-mineable, low sulfidation epithermal and/or Carlin-style gold
deposits.
In the Cargo Muchacho mountains of Imperial County, California, Southern Empire's
wholly-owned Oro Cruz Project has the potential to re-establish
gold production from a moderate tonnage oxide gold deposit located
approximately 22.5 kilometres (14 miles) southeast of the operating
Mesquite gold mine of Equinox Gold Corp., which has now produced
more than five million ounces. At Oro Cruz, extensive
historical drilling and large-scale open-pit and underground mining
of the American Girl, Padre y Madre, Queen and Cross oxide gold
deposits by the American Girl Mining Joint Venture (AGMJV) of MK
Gold Company and Hecla Mining Company occurred between 1987 and
1996. During that time, gold was recovered by heap leaching of
lower-grade ores and milling of higher-grade ores. Following
significant definition drilling and underground development, the
Oro Cruz open-pit and underground mines operated successfully for
only one year (producing about 61,000 ounces of gold) AGMJV
operations ceased in late 1996 as collapsing gold prices caused the
entire operation to be shuttered and decommissioned, leaving the
Oro Cruz property with many gold exploration targets in addition to
a historical inferred resource estimate, reported In 2011 by
Lincoln Mining Corp., totalling 341,800 ounces gold based on
4,386,000 tonnes averaging 2.2 grams gold per tonne at a cut-off
grade of 0.68 g/t Au (4,835,000 tons at 0.07 ounce gold per ton;
please refer to the Cautionary Notice Regarding the Oro Cruz
Property Historical Resource Estimate below). Although no surface
facilities remain, the underground infrastructure at Oro Cruz
(including a 2.4 kilometre haulage ramp, sublevels and draw points)
remains in excellent condition and the open pit was abandoned just
after stripping was completed prior to the start of Stage II pit
expansion.
Southern Empire has received a Decision Record and Finding of No
Significant Impact regarding federal permitting of Oro Cruz and is
finalizing state and county permitting that will allow for up to 65
exploration, confirmation and metallurgical drill hole sites at Oro
Cruz to support a new resource estimate, and to also test the
potential of waste rock and decommissioned heap leach piles to
yield residual gold production.
For more information on Southern Empire, its people and its
projects, please visit our website: www.smp.gold.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Southern Empire
Resources Corp.,
Dale
Wallster, CEO and Director
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its
Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the
policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy
or accuracy of this release.
Cautionary Notice on Forward-Looking Information and
Forward-Looking Statements
Information provided in this news release may contain
forward-looking information or forward-looking statements that are
based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. Such
information or statements reflect management's current estimates,
beliefs, intentions and expectations and are not guarantees of
future performance. Southern Empire cautions that all
forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual
performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many
of which are beyond its respective control. Such factors include,
among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to Southern
Empire's limited operating history, the need to comply with
environmental and governmental regulations, results of exploration
programs on its projects and those risks and uncertainties
identified in its annual and interim financial statements and
management discussion and analysis. Accordingly, actual and future
events, conditions and results may differ materially from the
estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or
implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required
under applicable securities legislation, Southern Empire undertakes
no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking
information.
Cautionary Notice Regarding the Oro Cruz Project Historical
Resource Estimate
The historical resource estimate outlined above is disclosed in
a technical report dated April 29,
2011, prepared for Lincoln Mining Corp. by Tetra Tech, Inc.
and filed on Canadian Securities Administrators' System for
Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR+). It is termed
an inferred mineral resource, which is a category set out in NI
43-101. It was based on historical reverse circulation and core
drill hole sample, underground channel sample, and blasthole sample
assay results and calculated using ordinary kriging to estimate
gold grades in 10-foot-by-10-foot-by-five-foot blocks. Accordingly,
Southern Empire considers this historical estimate reliable as well
as relevant as it represents key targets for future exploration
work. However, a QP has not done sufficient work to verify or
classify the historical estimate as a current mineral resource and
Southern Empire is not treating this historical estimate as current
mineral resources.
SOURCE Southern Empire Resources Corp.
