Artemis Gold’s Blackwater mine at final commissioning stage
Artemis now expects to feed first ore to the ball mill in the next few weeks and continues to target first gold pour before year end.
Adds Three Years of Expected Mine Life
Coeur Mining, Inc. (“Coeur” or the “Company”) (NYSE:CDE) announced proven and probable reserves at the recently-acquired Wharf gold mine in South Dakota of approximately 781,000 gold ounces. This represents a 39% increase from the last reported reserve estimate at Wharf by Goldcorp from year-end 2013 of 560,000 ounces. The addition of these new reserves at Wharf results in a 35% increase in Coeur’s total gold reserves to 3.0 million ounces.
Mitchell J. Krebs, Coeur’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Given the importance of Wharf to our Company, we felt it was necessary to take the time to complete a more informed resource model based on pre-existing data to improve our mine planning and ability to execute according to plan. We were optimistic that this effort would result in additional reserves based on the mine’s history of positive reconciliations between the reserve model and production. The results have surpassed our expectations by adding three years of expected mine life, making Wharf a key producing asset for Coeur for at least the next decade. We are optimistic that exploration efforts now underway around the existing open pit will further add to Wharf’s reserves.”
In addition to these reserves, Wharf contains 165,000 gold ounces of measured and indicated resources, an increase of 13% to Coeur’s total measured and indicated gold resource and 27% higher than the last reported resource estimates by Goldcorp at year-end 2013.
Wharf Mineral Reserves and Resources
Note: Effective June 1, 2015. Assumed metal prices for estimated mineral reserves and resources were $1,275/oz and $1,350/oz, respectively. A minimum cut-off grade of 0.012 ounces per short ton was used to estimate the economic pits for Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources. Gold recoveries used were 80.5% for porphyry, 80% for intermediate Deadwood Formation, and 76% for lower contact Deadwood Formation. A gold burden of $68 per ounce was used to account for royalties, severance tax, and refining fees. Inferred resources were discounted as waste in this analysis.
Coeur expects to file a technical report in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 for Wharf on www.sedar.com during the third quarter of 2015.
About Coeur
Coeur Mining is the largest U.S.-based silver producer and a significant gold producer with five precious metals mines in the Americas employing approximately 2,100 people. Coeur produces from its wholly owned operations: the Palmarejo silver-gold mine in Mexico, the San Bartolomé silver mine in Bolivia, the Rochester silver-gold mine in Nevada, the Kensington gold mine in Alaska, and the Wharf gold mine in South Dakota. The Company also has a non-operating interest in the Endeavor mine in Australia in addition to royalties on the Cerro Bayo mine in Chile, the El Gallo complex in Mexico, the Zaruma mine in Ecuador, and the Correnso mine in New Zealand. In addition, the Company has two silver-gold exploration projects – the La Preciosa project in Mexico and the Joaquin project in Argentina. The Company also conducts ongoing exploration activities in Alaska, Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, and Nevada. The Company owns strategic investment positions in several silver and gold development companies with projects in North and South America.
