SSR Mining Inc. (NASDAQ:SSRM) (TSX:SSRM) (ASX: SSR) (“SSR Mining” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce results from 288 drillholes (275 reverse circulation and 13 core drillholes) completed at the Marigold mine in Nevada, USA. The Company’s strategy to advance brownfields targets proximal to existing infrastructure has yielded exceptional results in Nevada, as evidenced by the extensive track record of mineral inventory growth throughout Marigold’s 32 years of consecutive production. The Marigold mine currently has a mine life in excess of 10 years, and these results support the extension and enhancement of future life of mine plans.
Resource development drilling at Marigold is focused in the New Millennium area around the Basalt-Antler pit that historically produced approximately 1 million ounces at a grade of 0.75 g/t. The New Millennium concept, unlocked by recent land acquisitions, targets low-cost resource and reserve additions proximal to the Marigold plan of operations with the potential to complement the existing life of mine plan. New oxide intercepts in New Millennium include:
- MRA7324: 10.47 g/t Au over 16.8 meters, including 18.72 g/t Au over 9.1 meters
- MRA7249: 7.88 g/t Au over 10.7 meters
- MRA7286: 1.51 g/t Au over 22.9 meters, including 2.17 g/t Au over 13.7 meters
- MRA7285: 0.96 g/t Au over 29.0 meters, including 1.45 g/t Au over 9.1 meters
- DDH7408: 1.49 g/t Au over 29.0 meters, including 2.78 g/t Au over 10.7 meters
In addition to drilling at New Millennium, SSR Mining continues to explore for supplemental oxide ore sources across the broader Marigold land package. At the Trenton Canyon project located ~4 km south of New Millennium (Figure 1), drilling has delivered exciting high-grade intercepts of predominantly oxide mineralization. Exploration at Trenton Canyon aims to define oxide material that leverages existing infrastructure at Marigold to provide an avenue for production growth in the future. Oxide intercepts from Trenton Canyon include:
- MRA7266: 2.97 g/t Au over 71.6 meters
- MRA7264: 6.53 g/t Au over 12.2 meters including 12.49 g/t Au over 6.1 meters
- MRA7316: 7.49 g/t Au over 10.7 meters
Rod Antal, President and CEO said, “These exploration results highlight the potential to add incremental oxide mineralization to Marigold’s already robust reserve life. By focusing on adding ounces proximal to existing infrastructure at New Millennium, we are demonstrating opportunities to build on Marigold’s near and medium-term future, while also continuing to systematically explore the larger property for longer-term targets. We are working to expand and accelerate our exploration efforts at Marigold as a precursor to completing an updated Marigold District Master Plan technical report later in 2022.”
Marigold, Nevada
SSR Mining’s mineral holdings include a 100% owned ~20,000-hectare parcel containing the currently producing Marigold mine as well as the past producing Valmy, Trenton Canyon, North Peak, and Buffalo Valley mines.
Near mine exploration during the Exploration Period (May 1st, 2020 to September 30th, 2021) focused on Mineral Resource additions at New Millennium, enabled by land acquisitions completed in 2016, 2018 and 2019. New Millennium represents a low cost, high probability development opportunity in the Nevada portfolio and drilling at the target will continue with the ultimate goal to extend operations at Marigold beyond its current mine life to 2032. The New Millennium target area is comprised of six distinct zones which include East Basalt, Battle Cry, Antler, Section 6, Lil’ Gun and North Antler (Figure 2).
Exploration drilling on the recently acquired Section 6 parcel has returned intercepts analogous to the typical Marigold-style mineralization, including 22.9 meters at 1.51 g/t of Au from 248.4 meters in MRA7286, demonstrating bulk-tonnage potential at the far southern reaches of the Marigold system. As our definition drilling programs continue, there is potential for the discrete zones of mineralization to coalesce. Figure 3 provides select results from the drilling completed at Section 6 and other New Millennium zones. The Company is also undertaking a re-assay program of historical drill samples in the New Millennium area with potential to build on the success of the re-assay program at Marigold’s Mackay deposit during 2015-2016 which yielded a 23% increase in estimated tonnage and a 13% increase in gold ounces within the Mackay pits. The goal of this program is to capture low-grade gold assay values not recorded in the historical dataset and integrate the results with the updated resource model. The first phase of this program, which included the re-analysis of drill samples from two drill sections, yielded positive results (Figure 4) and will now be expanded to encompass the entire project area.
During the exploration period, a lesser amount of drilling was completed in the Valmy and Cross Fire resource area. In June of 2021, SSR Mining submitted a proposed amendment to the Marigold Plan of Operations to include the Valmy and Cross Fire resource areas. The Bureau of Land Management is currently reviewing the proposal and we expect a decision in Q4 2021, informing next steps with respect to National Environmental Policy Act requirements.
