Panamint Valley, Ca. January 22, 2020. Black Swan Advisors (BSA) and Bush Management Company (BMC) (BSA/BMC) have just completed a review of mining options suitable for the first new mining at Radcliffe Mine (Radcliffe), a 1,750-acre complex of patented and unpatented mining claims 25+ miles east of Trona, California. Radcliffe was first mined in 1886 and was last operated on a regular basis in the 1940s.
Radcliffe was acquired by BSA/BMC in September 2018. Since September BSA/BMC has conducted substantial due diligence including a review of mining permits, historical mine operations, and reviewed other data available from prior operators. Radcliffe has 2 major mineralization areas; the Worldbeater Complex and the Radcliffe Schist. BSA/BMC also engaged MDA/RESPEC (MDA) to complete an updated NI 43 101 which provided significant detailed analysis of mineralization and mining potential. MDA analyzed 174 drill holes (and associated assay results) completed in the 1994 to 2003-time frame by prior option holders of Radcliffe, including Kerr McGee, Echo Bay, and Compass. The drill holes are clustered in the south end of the patented land area of 137 acres in a portion totaling 65 acres, the Target Mining Area.
BSA/BMC also engaged Practical Mining (Practical) of Elko Nevada to review possible mining scenarios inside the Target Mining Area. Practical identified a closer-knit set of drill holes around one of the approved portal locations (Portal 4). Mark Odell (Odell) of Practical outlined his findings as follows “ Portal 4 has 128 drill holes with spacing averaging 65 feet, giving us a very high level of confidence in our findings; Portal 4 provides access to mineralization containing an estimated 155,000 ounces of gold with a .403 OPT grade; and finally we have been able to put together a very efficient mine plan due to the tight drill hole spacing and the close proximity to the surface entrance for Portal 4”. The findings outlined above have been converted into a final underground mine plan (Mine Plan) which conforms to the conditions in the approved Conditional Use Permit (CUP). To make it clear, the Mine Plan area of some 50 acres is a subset of the 65 acres used by MDA for the updated NI 43 101.
Regarding the mining permits, McLaughlin advised “The 137 fee acres are permitted under the jurisdiction of Inyo County, Ca. A Conditional Use Permit (CUP) was utilized to identify the allowed mining under the Inyo County zoning and other regulations. The CUP provides for 6 approved new portals for underground mining, mine access roads, and a mining support area along Pleasant Canyon road which runs through the fee land. This is the area where historic ore processing was conducted from 1886 thru 1940. The CUP specifically authorizes crushing and processing”. McLaughlin added further “The CUP provides for access to the mining operation through 2 Rights of Way issued by BLM across BLM properties and into the CUP area.”
The Practical Mine Plan has also been converted to a Request for Proposal (RFP) which has been sent to several underground mining companies for bids. 3 sets of bids have been received, 2 of which have come in under the target All In Sustaining Cost AISC of $800/ounce, including on-site crushing and processing as allowed by the CUP and county zoning regulations.
Additionally, BSA/BMC has engaged Jorgensen Engineering and Technical Services (JE&TS) as the project metallurgist. ALS Kamloops (ALS) was selected as the metallurgical Laboratory. Tests were conducted on a single mined sample from Portal 1 situated inside the Mine Plan). BSA/BMC was able to gather ore from Portal 1 (a partially completed drift started by the owner preceding BSA/BMC, which drift is actually part of the Target Mine Area-50 acres of Portal 4), making it a reliable source for metallurgical analysis for Portal 4 . The results of the preliminary test work showed that gold could be recovered using several different processing options and recoveries from 55 % using gravity concentration to 85% using bulk flotation could be achieved. A preliminary processing scheme was developed that would incorporate crushing, grinding and bulk flotation for gold. Significantly more details of ALS testing and JE&TS metallurgical details are included in Paragraph 13 of the NI 43 101.
Jorgensen has also compiled a flow plan indicating which processes will require which equipment packages to achieve the target on-site processing goals. Jorgensen has evaluated crushing, flotation, gravity separation, and other processing methods.
BSA is currently seeking proposals for the following on-site production operations;
1) Project Geologist
2) Provide and operate portable Assay Laboratory
3) On-site u/g drilling team
4) Provide and operate On-site portable crushing and processing team
5) Civil engineering services for mining
Interested parties should send resumes to Charles McLaughlin at cjm@blackswanadvisors.net. Subject to completion of financing BSA/BMC is scheduling production to commence in April 2020. Copies of the NI 43 101 report can also be obtained by emailing Charles McLaughlin at the above address.