Northern Vertex Mining (TSX.V: NEE) announced Thursday the receipt by its wholly-owned Arizona subsidiary Golden Vertex of final federal permitting approval for the Phase III expansion at the Moss Mine.
This permitting approval allows the company to expand its
current operations from its patented claims onto its surrounding unpatented
claims on federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) managed public lands.
The expansion, along with its resource update is expected to significantly extend the life of the Moss Mine, Northern Vertex said.
In March, the miner announced total measured and indicated mineral resources of 360,000 ounces of gold and 3.8m ounces of silver within 20,560,000 tons at an average grade of 0.0175 oz/st gold and 0.2171 oz/st silver. Inferred mineral resources at Moss mine are 129,000 ounces of gold and 1.37m ounces of silver within 11,960,000 tons at an average grade of 0.0108 oz/st gold and 0.1149 oz/st silver.
Additional infill drilling to depth has the potential to further expand the mineral resource in the West Pit area. The mineral resource further to the west of the area drilled in 2019 has the potential to increase with additional infill drilling, Northern Vertex said.
“The expansion is a very important milestone for the company as it is expected to increase efficiencies that will significantly reduce operating costs at the mine,” Kenneth Berry, president and CEO said a media release. “In addition, the expansion also allows for exploration drilling to be carried out in order to expand the current mineral resource and extend the mine life.”
At market close Thursday, Northern Vertex shares were
up over 5% on the TSX. The company has a C$45.7 million market capitalization.