Black Swan Advisors announces results of Updated Gold Resource Estimate for Radcliffe Mine, Inyo County, Ca., effective date October 2019

INYO COUNTY, Calif., Jan. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Charles McLaughlin of BSA /BMC (owner of Radcliffe Mine complex) has announced the completion of the Radcliffe Mine Updated Gold resource estimate and Technical Report (as governed by Canadian Securities regulations NI 43-101, Companion Policy 43-101CP, and Form 43-101F1) prepared by Steve Ristorcelli, Principal Geologist, of MDA/RESPEC. This estimate is for a 65-acre portion of the 1,700+ acre Radcliffe Mine project located in Inyo County Cal. close to the Nevada border.

Ristorcelli stated, "This resource estimate is based on data from 174 drill holes and 259 underground channel samples completed during the years 1989 to 2003. These drill holes are located within a 65-acre portion of the property and mostly on the 137.5-acre patented fee land. The MDA resource estimate tabulated at a cutoff of 0.01 oz Au/t has 171,000 ounces of gold with the Indicated classification and 46,000 ounces of Inferred resources".

BSA/BMC observed, "Ristorcelli and the MDA/RESPEC team did a great job with the 25-year-old drilling data and assay results; they were able to model the resource and other factors to assist us in our planning for Radcliffe".

As part of the regular 43 101 process MDA/RESPEC also evaluated Radcliffe metallurgical conditions, as presented by QP for metallurgy Mark Jorgensen. There are multiple historical tests of project metallurgy, although the 2019 test results from ALS Kamloops and Jorgensen are from more current samples (2019), and from recently mined (2012 to 2018) ore which is part of the 65-acre area covered by the historic drilling. A prior owner had developed 2 new drifts from 2012 thru 2018, which provided stacked ore on which metallurgical testing has been completed. From those tests Jorgensen concluded that the grades in the samples was in the range of 16.5 g/t, and recovery rates could be as high as 97.5% (Table 13.5) with the use of cyanide processing. See Table 13.1 (List of Metallurgical Test Samples), Table 13.2 (Gravity Gold Recovery Test Work Results), Table 13.3 (Flotation Test Work Results), Table 13.4 (Rougher and Cleaner Concentrate Assays), and Table 13.5 (Whole-Ore Leach Test Results) in the 43 101.

BSA/BMC is also evaluating alternate mine development options. They have retained a mine engineer (Mark Odell at Practical Mining, Elko Nevada), a metallurgist (Mark Jorgensen), and an exploration geologist (Greg Mosher) to consider all available options. Those alternative plans and expected results will be presented soon.

BSA/BMC took title to the Radcliffe Mine complex in September 2018. During the holding period BSA/BMC has been able to accomplish the following improvements to the Radcliffe Mine and associated permits;

1) The status of the 2008 Conditional Use Permits (CUP) on the 137-acre fee property has been confirmed with Inyo County. All conditions of approval have been satisfied. That CUP provides for the following:
A) 6 New portal locations
B) An onsite processing area in the Clair Camp section of the fee land where prior processing was accomplished.
C) The 2 BLM issued Rights of Way across BLM property have been verified and extended for 30 years.
D) An on-site waste area has been confirmed with Inyo County
E) All project zoning regulations have been reviewed for applicability to mining operations.
F) The Negative Declaration for environmental matters issued in 2008 is current with no changes reported.
2) Stockpile ore from the 65-acre fee land has been shipped to toll milling operations in 2017 and late 2018; both sets of ore (500 tons and 315 tons) were successfully processed to yield .31 and .45 OPT with recovery rates in the 95% + range. This ore is believed to come from a section of the 65 acres which is part of the MDA resource estimate, adding further confirmation to results identified by MDA in the 43 101.
3) Additional metallurgical testing (as outlined in the 43 101) has been completed.
4) All 84 BLM unpatented lode claims have been verified as to their legal description and plotted by the project civil engineer.
5) All annual fee payments to BLM for the 84 unpatented claims have been verified as timely made.
6) A new regional water study has been completed to verify the status of water condition in the immediate area.
7) BSA/BMC has spent considerable time and resources evaluating additional resources within the owned claims areas. The entire Radcliffe complex contains approximately 1,725 acres, of which 137 acres are fee property and the balance BLM Unpatented lode claims. That leaves approximately 1,600 acres available for further exploration.

Early indications are that the resources inside the 65-acre site will run into the adjacent claims owned by BSA/BMC. A prioritized exploration plan has been put in place, to be enacted when mining starts on the next portal, Portal 4. Samples in these areas have already been taken providing further evidence of an expanded resource area.

BSA/BMC has also been furthering the mining permits for its other mine, Keystone, located 15 miles south of Radcliffe. In November 2018 BLM issued an approved Plan of Operations Permit Modification (for surface drilling on the previously disturbed areas in and around the Keystone Mine operations area) and related approved Environmental Assessment (EA). This Surface Drilling Permit also had clearance for the related EA with the issuance of a ROD for said EA.

BSA/BMC retained several geologists to evaluate the resource potential at Keystone as no historical drilling was ever completed. Based on underground samples from prior mining operations and traditional surface reconnaissance BSA/BMC believes that Keystone has resources of approximately 225,000 ounces of gold, .45 OPT grade. The Keystone mine appears to be in the same mineral zone as Radcliffe based on the assay results taken since 2015.

Copies of the Updated Resource Estimate for Radcliffe Mine can be obtained via email to Charles McLaughlin, [email protected], 949 351 3943. Black Swan Advisors (BSA) is the authorized agent for BMC the owner of both mine projects.

SOURCE Black Swan Advisors