Completion of New Technical Report for Relief Canyon MineLAKEWOOD, Colo., Dec. 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Pershing Gold Corporation (OTCQB:PGLC) ("Pershing Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Mine Development Associates ("MDA") of Reno, Nevada has completed a Technical Report for Pershing Gold's Relief Canyon Mine in Pershing County, Nevada. The MDA Technical Report discusses in detail the resource estimate, previously announced in March 2014, based on the results from drilling completed through 2013. In addition, The Technical Report summarizes the recent final Relief Canyon Heap Leach Cyanidation Report completed by McClelland Laboratories, Inc. ("MLI") reporting results of metallurgical tests from earlier this year. The Technical Report also makes recommendations for further metallurgical tests and continued drilling at Relief Canyon. The new Technical Report is available on the Company's website at www.pershinggold.com. As previously reported in the Company's March 31, 2014 news release the MDA resource estimate shows a Measured and Indicated resource of 552,000 ounces of gold and an Inferred Resource of 165,000 ounces of gold. MDA's estimate was prepared following the definitions and guidelines adopted by the Canadian Institute of Metallurgy ("CIM"). These definitions and guidelines satisfy the requirements of Canadian National Instrument 43-101. MDA geologist, Paul Tietz, Certified Professional Geologist, was the qualified person responsible for preparing the Technical Report and resource estimate. "This Technical Report presents a snapshot of the Relief Canyon resource estimate based on drilling completed through 2013 and includes metallurgical recommendations based on the recent results of the column leach tests completed this year," stated Stephen D. Alfers, Pershing Gold's Chairman and CEO. "The resource estimate it refers to does not include any of the results from our 2014 drilling program. "We expect this resource to expand in 2015 when we complete an updated resource estimate that incorporates the results from our aggressive 2014 development drilling program," Alfers explained. "So far this year, the Company has drilled 85 core holes, and currently has three rigs on site with drilling planned through the beginning of next year. We expect our 2014 core drilling program to complete approximately 95 holes (approximately 60,000 feet), and we will continue into early 2015 to complete up to a total of 120 core drill holes (approximately 75,000 feet). This will more than double the number of core holes previously drilled at the conclusion of the 2013 program at Relief Canyon," commented Alfers. The Technical Report identifies an opportunity to eliminate uncertainties about gold intercepts below the water table in the historic reverse circulation drill hole database by drilling core holes in these areas. Pershing Gold's 2014 core drilling program has already made significant progress drilling core holes in areas of the deposit where reverse circulation drill holes intercepted gold mineralization below the water table. As explained in the Company's September 15 press release, it appears that gold mineralization is under represented in some of the reverse circulation drill holes due to sample recovery problems below the water table. In discussing this issue, the MDA Technical Report states "The exclusion of some of the North area mineralized intercepts from the reverse circulation drill-hole database has undoubtedly eliminated some mineralization that is real." The Company's ongoing core drilling program will continue to test those parts of the deposit where confirmation core drilling can potentially expand the gold resource – either by adding ounces or upgrading existing ounces from the Inferred resource classification to the Indicated or Measured resource classification. The Technical Report includes a detailed chapter on mineral processing and metallurgical testing written by Jack McPartland, Vice President of Operations with MLI. This chapter also reviews all of the metallurgical testing data available for the deposit and presents a thorough discussion of the column leach tests completed earlier this year by MLI. As reported in the Company's May 12 and June 23 press releases, two composite columns containing a representative blend of the Main Zone mineralization types had gold recoveries of 79 percent and 82 percent when leached for 70 to 91 days. One of the key recommendations for additional metallurgical work in MDA 's report is to perform column leach tests of the Lower and Jasperoid Zones to support future mine planning. The Company is planning to drill metallurgical core holes in the Lower and Jasperoid Zones to obtain samples for the recommended column leach testing program on these zones, with the objective of completing the column leach tests in 2015. The Company anticipates that the duration and scope of the column leach tests on the Lower and Jasperoid Zones will be similar to the program completed this year on the Main Zone. The other metallurgical work recommended in the Technical Report will be performed as necessary to refine the current mine plan. The projected cost for these column leach tests is roughly $170,000. "The Technical Report reaches an important conclusion about the Relief Canyon Mine," stated Alfers. "The report finds that the currently available metallurgical testing data are adequate to support our current mine plan for the Main Zone ores that we are planning to process using heap leaching," explained Alfers citing from the conclusions in the Technical Report.