VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwired – June 12,
2015) –
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR RELEASE OR
DISSEMINATION DIRECTLY, OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE
UNITED STATES
Marlin Gold Mining Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:MLN) (“Marlin” or the
“Company”) has been integrating its Arizona properties acquired
after the closing of the Commonwealth Silver and Gold Inc. (“Commonwealth”)
acquisition on May 21, 2015. After further review of the geological database,
Management believes that Commonwealth represents a second district-scale land
package in addition to our 118,000 hectare land package in Sinaloa,
Mexico surrounding our operating La Trinidad gold mine. The addition of
Commonwealth allows Marlin to continue building a diversified precious metal
mining company.
On June 3, 2015 Marlin closed a $13 million private placement, with
approximately $11.6 million of this being used for debt repayment, including
$5 million to the Sprott Resource Lending Partnership. This has significantly
improved the Company’s balance sheet and provided the financial flexibility
to bring the San Carlos satellite pit into our mine plan as early as
September 2015 depending on the results of our accelerated development plan. We
expect the total capital expenditures to develop the San Carlos satellite pit
to be around $5 million (US$4 million).
Exploration drilling has begun at La Trinidad, which is the first time an
exploration drill rig has been on site since 2011. This drilling program will
concentrate on infill drilling at our primary Taunus pit, and resource
delineation at our San Carlos
satellite pit.
La Trinidad Optimization is Progressing Well
Sonoran Resources LLC, led by Jesse Munoz, has been advancing the Company’s
Taunus pit optimization and San
Carlos accelerated development plan since the
beginning of May. Since this time, key components of our operations,
including our adsorption, desorption and recovery (“ADR”) plant,
waste removal within the Taunus pit and recoveries at our leach pad have been
performing better than they have been since declaring commercial production
in November of 2014. Our average recovery rates at the leach pad have been
materially better, with cumulative recovery rates nearly 4% better than they
were at the beginning of May. Changing in leaching procedures, including
better irrigation of slide slopes and rotating the areas under leach in an
optimized fashion have allowed us to recover significant gold from our
inventories. Waste material that was built up during the first four months of
the year has been removed, allowing our pit to gain access to lower levels,
and accelerating the time it will take to get to the high grade HS zone
earlier in Q2 2016. Our ADR plant has been operating at 95% efficiency since
it has been optimized (vs. 90% before) and is flowing nearly 6% more solution
through the plant (8,500 vs. 8,000 cubic meters
per day). The net effect is that gold production has increased over 12% per
day assuming constant solution grades. Since the end of the last quarter we
have shipped and sold approximately 5,100 ounces of
gold.
Management Changes Will Further Advance Marlin’s Assets
As Marlin transitions to a multi-asset and multi-jurisdiction mining company,
it is crucial that the Company develop a flexible and scalable operating team
that is capable of advancing as many assets as we can bring into the
portfolio. Sonoran Resources LLC has demonstrated that they are the ideal
team to be advancing and optimizing Marlin’s mines and projects. They have
proven themselves at La Trinidad, and being headquartered in Arizona will
significantly help the advancement of Commonwealth. To this end, Marlin is
pleased to welcome Jesse Munoz as interim COO of the company replacing John
Brownlie, the former CEO and COO of Marlin. Akiba Leisman will assume the
role of interim CEO in addition to Executive Chairman.
About Marlin Gold
Marlin is a TSX-V publicly-listed company with properties located in Sinaloa
and Zacatecas, Mexico and Arizona, U.S.A. Marlin’s priority is to advance its
properties toward commercial production and enhance shareholder value through
financial optimization, namely through the growth of its wholly-owned
subsidiary, Sailfish Royalty Corp. The La Trinidad property, which hosts the
Taunus gold deposit, declared commercial production on November 1, 2014. An
NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate and preliminary economic assessment for
the Taunus gold deposit can be found at
.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as the
term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking information
This news release contains ‘forward-looking statements’ within the meaning of
applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements that
are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by
words such as the following: expects, plans, anticipates, believes, intends,
estimates, projects, assumes, potential and similar expressions. Forward-looking
statements also include reference to events or conditions that will, would,
may, could or should occur, including in relation to statements regarding the
completion of any equity financing, use of proceeds from any equity
financing, the expected results and timing for the development and exploitation
of any mineral resources, the timing of reprocess of material and production
from La Trinidad. These forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon
a number of estimates and assumptions that, while based on management’s
expectations and considered reasonable at the time they are made, are
inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause
actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the
forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: uncertainties
related to raising sufficient financing to fund planned work in a timely
manner and on acceptable terms; changes in planned work resulting from
logistical, technical or other factors; the possibility that results of work
will not fulfill projections/expectations and realize the perceived potential
of the Company’s projects; uncertainties involved in the interpretation of
drilling results and other tests and the estimation of gold resources; risk
of accidents, equipment breakdowns and labour disputes or other unanticipated
difficulties or interruptions; the possibility of environmental issues at the
Company’s projects; the possibility of cost overruns or unanticipated
expenses in work programs; the need to obtain permits and comply with environmental
laws and regulations and other government requirements; fluctuations in the
price of gold and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in
the Company’s current Annual Information Form filed on SEDAR at
