VIRGINIA CITY, NV--(Marketwired - September 15, 2015) - Comstock Mining Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE MKT: LODE) received on Saturday, September 12, 2015, the Nevada Excellence in Mine Reclamation Award. The Company received the Excellence in Mine Reclamation Award for the full restoration of the Keystone Mine, and was also recognized along with the Comstock Foundation for History and Culture (the "Foundation"), for Outstanding Rehabilitation of the historic Upper Yellow Jacket Hoist Works. Comstock's reclamation of the Keystone Mine, in the Comstock Lode Historic Mine District, represented a full open cut land restoration, and the emergency restoration of the Upper Yellow Jacket Hoist Works saved an iconic landscape feature on the National Landmark. The Foundation, an established 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the historic district, identified, facilitated and funded the restoration.
This combined award and three others were presented at the Nevada Mining Association Convention. All awards were the result of unanimous decisions by the Awards Committee. Members of the committee included representatives from the USFS (Elko), BLM (Reno), NDOM (Reno), NDEP (Carson City), NDOW (Reno) and NDEP (Carson City).
The Excellence in Mine Reclamation Awards recognizes some of the most progressive Nevada miners, elevating the standards of excellence in mine reclamations and restorations. Interest in these awards encourages innovation in reclamation techniques, raises industry standards, and results in better plans of operation and reclamation, while increasing the public's awareness of these sustaining activities.
SRK Consulting, an independent and international mining and earth/water resource consulting company, nominated Comstock Mining for the award stating, 'Comstock Mining embraces the local communities and looks for ways to work with and for the residents to preserve the history of the area and minimize the potential impacts of mining operations on health, safety, and quality of life. From pro-actively engaging regulators to developing the Comstock Foundation for History and Culture (http://www.comstockfoundation.org), CMI continues to demonstrate their desire to be a responsible member of the local and broader mining communities. It is for this varied and multi-pronged approach to community engagement and historic preservation and the recent concurrent and creative reclamation of the Keystone cut that SRK believes CMI is worthy of both this nomination and the award.'
Through the direction and facilitation of the Foundation, the Company provided funds for the restoration of the historic Upper Yellow Jacket Hoist works and ore chute, located directly above the tracks of the V&T Railroad in Gold Hill. The wooden hoist served to lift ore carts and miners from the famed Yellow Jacket which was one of the richest mines in the history of the Comstock. Without the restoration efforts, this historic structure was not expected to survive another Comstock winter.
The Keystone Mine is located adjacent to State Route 342. It is the first part of the active mining area that you see when you travel south on State Route 342 from Virginia City. The Company recognized the significance of both the initial impression to visitors in the area and the importance of the "viewshed" to the local and visiting admirers alike. The Company performed extensive regrading and shaping of the Keystone Mine area and included patches of boulders and rocks to mimic the appearance of the surrounding native hills. The Company then reseeded the regraded landscape using an approved seed mix and high quality hydroseeding techniques. Once the vegetation approximates the surrounding vegetation density, it will be difficult to distinguish the regraded terrain from the surrounding native hills.
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 and is an emerging leader in sustainable, responsible mining, including concurrent and accelerated reclamations, soil sampling, voluntary air monitoring, cultural asset protection and historical restorations. 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, development and mining. The near term goal of our business plan is to maximize intrinsic stockholder value realized, per share, by validating qualified resources and reserves (proven and probable) from our first two resource areas, Lucerne and Dayton, and significantly grow the commercial development of our operations through extended, long-lived mine plans that are economically feasible and socially responsible.
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: future prices and sales of, and demand for, our products; future industry market conditions; future changes in our exploration activities, production capacity and operations; future exploration, production, operating and overhead costs; operational and management restructuring activities (including implementation of methodologies); future mine planning and resource estimation; capital expenditures and their impact on us; productivity, business process, rationalization, investment, acquisition, consulting, operational, tax, financial and capital projects and initiatives; contingencies; environmental compliance and changes in the regulatory environment; and future working capital, costs, revenues, business opportunities, debt levels, cash flows, margins, earnings and growth.
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. 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. Neither this press release nor any related calls or discussions constitutes an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.
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