Pershing Gold Completes PEA For Relief Canyon Mine

 

LAKEWOOD, CO - Pershing Gold Corporation reported completion of the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) on its Relief Canyon Mine in Pershing County, Nevada.

Mine Development Associates (MDA) of Reno, NV completed a PEA for the Company's Relief Canyon gold mine with an effective date of June 2, 2016. The PEA uses approximate three-year average prices of $1,250 per ounce (/oz) of gold (Au) and $17/oz of silver. 

"We are pleased to report completion of the PEA for Relief Canyon. Achieving this milestone is key in our critical path to advancing the Relief Canyon Mine," stated Stephen D. Alfers, Pershing Gold's Chairman and CEO. "Moving this low-cost, low capital project forward continues to be our priority, and the high IRR shown by this PEA validates the last several years of work our team has put into the project. The PEA also highlights the gold resource at Relief Canyon that continues to be geologically open in three directions, presenting the potential to grow the deposit through continued drilling. Growing the deposit could allow for continued operation several years beyond the current life of mine without replacement capital," Alfers explained.

The PEA evaluates the economics of two alternative mining scenarios: first, self mining by Pershing Gold with its own manpower and equipment, and second, mining through mine contractors who supply the manpower and equipment to deliver material to the Company's processing facilities. "The PEA highlights the potential opportunity to increase net cash flows and Project NPV by 20% (as shown below) through the use of self mining," stated Alfers. "We will evaluate very carefully those two alternatives as we approach the decision to restart the mine."

Since acquiring the Relief Canyon Project in August 2011, Pershing Gold has made significant progress in expanding the gold resource and conducting important metallurgical tests to evaluate the heap leach characteristics of the Relief Canyon deposit. The work done to date as presented in the PEA prepared by MDA provides the economic data to support further efforts to advance the project.  Pershing Gold intends to commission a third-party Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) to support the decision to restart the mine, and to support future financing efforts or other corporate objectives.  Once permitting is obtained as described below, the project will be submitted to the Company's Board of Directors for final investment decision. Once approved, Pershing Gold would expect to move forward with the decision of whether to implement self mining or contract mining, and the subsequent financing for the project. The Company would expect initial gold production within approximately six to nine months from investment decision and obtaining full financing for the project. The Company is currently evaluating various financing options which include, but are not limited to: debt, royalties, equity, and off take agreements, and may elect to utilize some combination of these options.

Pershing Gold anticipates that the necessary state and federal permits for phase 1 of the project will be issued in Q3 2016. The data currently available for the Relief Canyon deposit are generally sufficient to support preparation of a PFS with the exception of a pit-slope geotechnical evaluation that is currently underway. The completion of a PFS is not expected to negatively affect the Company's timeline to production.