VIRGINIA CITY, NV--(Marketwired - January 21, 2015) - Comstock Mining Inc. ("Comstock Mining" or "the Company") (NYSE MKT: LODE) announced today that it has engineered an at-grade crossing that enables it to more efficiently access mine areas east of the Lucerne Resource Area without any major infrastructural changes to the State Route 342 ("SR 342"). The modification allows the Company's haul trucks to move material from the East-side Lucerne resource area across SR 342 to the Company's American Flat processing facilities. The Company is in the process of assessing mine opportunities and preparing mine plans for parcels to the east of SR 342. Storey County's Board of Commissioners found, unanimously, that these plans conform to the Company's existing Special Use Permit N0. 2000-222-A-5.
The Company has already performed an extensive amount of environmental and cultural asset impact assessments on the East-side patented properties. Additionally, the Company is assessing the amount of gold and silver grades contained in the legacy Silver Hill waste dumps from past surface and underground operations. The Company recently completed soil sampling of this material and, depending on the results, these waste dumps could represent a significant source of mineralized material for processing while also enabling significant, concurrent environmental reclamation of previous dumpsites.
The East-side of Lucerne encompasses a nearly half-mile long segment of the Gold Hill/Silver City extension of the Comstock Lode and already has an extensive amount of drilling. This includes historic and more recent drilling that represents an aggregate total footage of 270,000 feet (that is, over 51 miles), that the Company is using to evaluate the eastward projection of the Silver City fault zone.
Lucerne's, near-surface, mineralized area represents the Company's most significant, ongoing development, with active drilling and development in process. The historic Woodville Bonanza and the Chute Zone, identified in 2012, both represent near surface, intermediate and deeper, higher grade, primarily oxidized mineralized targets that have been intersected in drill holes to depths of about 800 feet.
Comstock Mining's Chief Executive Officer, orrado De Gasperis commented: "This design represents a breakthrough in our planning for efficient expansion of the Lucerne mine while allowing for concurrent processing of mineralized material and reclamations. Doing it profitably is a significant net benefit for us and another example of integrating mining activities with concurrent, reclamation actions."
About Comstock Mining Inc.
Comstock Mining Inc. is a producing, Nevada-based, gold and silver mining company with extensive, contiguous property in the Comstock District. The Company began acquiring properties in the Comstock District in 2003. Since then, the Company has consolidated a significant portion of the Comstock District, amassed the single largest known repository of historical and current geological data on the Comstock region, secured permits, built an infrastructure and commenced production in 2012. The Company continues acquiring additional properties in the district, expanding its footprint and creating opportunities for further exploration and mining. The near term goal of our business plan is to deliver stockholder value by validating qualified resources (measured and indicated) and reserves (proven and probable) of at least 3,250,000 gold equivalent ounces from our first two resource areas, Lucerne and Dayton, achieve initial commercial mining and processing operations in the Lucerne Mine with annual production rates of approximately 40,000 gold equivalent ounces and significantly grow production through the commercial development and expansions of both the Lucerne and Dayton Mine plans.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release and any related calls or discussions may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 about Comstock. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements about matters such as: mining and processing capability; future heap expansion opportunities; future mine planning and exploration; future efficiency; near and long-term expansion; and future environmental protection practices.
The words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "project," "plan," "should," "intend," "may," "will," "would," "potential" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of doing so. These statements are based on assumptions and assessments made by our management in light of their experience and their perception of historical and current trends, current conditions, possible future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees, representations or warranties and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, developments and business decisions to differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Some of those risks and uncertainties include the risk factors discussed in Item 1A, "Risk Factors" of our annual report on Form 10-K, including operational or technical difficulties in connection with exploration or mining activities. Occurrence of such events or circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows or the market price of our securities. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements by or attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these factors. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement.
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