Vancouver, BC - June 11, 2009 - Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp. (Toronto Stock Exchange: YNG; Frankfurt XetraExchange: NG6)announces that itssubsidiary, Queenstake Resources USA, Inc. ("Queenstake" or "the Company") hastaken action to have more direct management of the Jerritt Canyon operations inorder to accelerate and complete installation of the newmercury-emission-control system at its wholly owned Jerritt Canyon Mine locatedin Nevada, in response to the Stop Order 2009-6 issued by Nevada Division ofEnvironmental Protection ("NDEP") last week.
Further tothe recent NDEP Order 2009-4 resulting from a delay in the fabrication ofcertain fiberglass ductwork, Queenstake was unable to meet a deadline tocomplete the installation of new mercury - emission - control equipment at theJerritt Canyon Mine by May 30, 2009. Therefore, in compliance with NDEP Order2009-4 and a subsequent NDEP Stop Order 2009-6 received at 4:00 PM Friday June5, 2009, Queenstake a wholly owned subsidiary of Yukon Nevada Gold Corp.("YNG"), has taken steps to focus all operations at the Jerritt Canyon Mine onthe completion of the requirements of those orders. The Orders require theCompany to comply with all the previous compliance standards including theairborne mercury emissions.
TheCompany will now focus its entire workforce together with its outsideconsultants presently engaged in complying with those orders, on fast trackingand completing the required work. It is estimated that this and other workrequired to bring the Company back into full compliance will be completed byJune 30. A submission to allow return to fully licensed operational statussubject to the above work being completed is being prepared in parallel with theabove work program undertaking.
The newlyappointed President and CEO Mr. Robert Baldock said, "In order to achieve thisprogram, the Company has decided to be more actively involved in the facilities. I have asked the newly appointed COO totake over responsibility for management of the operations including thesupervision of staff and contractors at site. This will give the Company moredirect control of its mining and milling operations, facilitating the financingof the operations and re-start of the mill and mine."
At thesame time, the Company has been undertaking a significant maintenance andupgrade program of its milling and ore treatment facilities to allow continuousand reliable 24/7 operations. This program will be further upgraded to includeany outstanding compliance issues ahead of submission of the Company Start-upPlan to NDEP.
TheCompany reserves and resources at Jerritt Canyon, not accounting for 2008 miningand depletion, are 717,300 ounces of gold in the proven and probable categoriesand 1,961,100 in the measured and indicated categoriesas reportedin the April16, 2008 NI 43-101 report which can be found on www.sedar.com or on our website here: https://www.yukon-nevadagold.com/i/pdf/Jerritt-NI430101-Apr08.pdf. In addition, there are ounces already mined andstockpiled on the run-of-mine ("ROM") pad. These ROM pad resources will allowthe Company to achieve the presently budgeted throughput of 3,300 tons per day.Upon recommencement of milling it is sufficient to produce at the rate of atleast 2,000 ounces of gold per week for the next nine months at a cost per ounceof approximately USD $300.
The millfacility is currently licensed to treat 4,320 tpd with an overall potentialcapacity of 6,000 tpd.
To ensureongoing operations once the ROM stockpile is processed, the Company has hired anexperienced mine manager and additional staff who are presently planning there-commencement of profitable underground mining operations. The Company's minedore would be supplemented by toll treating ore from presently identifiedcustomers who either have no mill or have insufficient capacity in their own facilities.The Company is presently in discussions with two "within economic haulagedistance" companies and the combination of these ore sources would allow theCompany to achieve at least the permitted throughput of 4,320 tpd onceoperations are permitted to re-commence.
There willbe a job fair held on June 11th at 11:00am PST at the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel,.
HISTORY:
NDEP issued an Order March25, allowing Queenstake to restart ore processing operations after the mine'sinitial environmental compliance was satisfied. Since that time the Company wasnot able to meet the May 30 deadline to complete all of the work on the newmercury control and removal system and has received the above order to closedown operations while all of the outstanding issues are completed. Queenstakehas successfully complied with other requirements of operation of NDEP Order2009-4.