VIRGINIA CITY, NV--(Marketwired - February 03, 2016) - Comstock Mining Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE MKT: LODE) announced today that the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection Bureau of Mining Regulation and Reclamation (NDEP-BMRR) has issued a Notice of Decision (NoD) approving a Major Modification to the Company's Water Pollution Control Plan for various expansions of the heap leach facility. This modification authorizes the construction of "Cell 10," located adjacent to and north of the existing leaching operation, and also identifies multiple, future heap leach pad expansions, south and southwest of the existing heap leach pad and existing facilities. The modification also allows both surface and underground mine processing at the heap leach facility.
Corrado De Gasperis, President & CEO, commented: "This proactive permitting authorizes significant future heap leach capacity on our existing private lands. These approvals provide us all of the leaching capacity needed for the foreseeable future."
The approved Cell 10 addition, the Company's largest leach pad design to date, will provide an estimated 2.9 million tons of additional capacity. It also allows for phased construction, at the Company's preference, with an ultimate footprint of 12.27 acres.
Unique to this modification is the identification and inclusion of future expansions for Cells 11 and 12, located adjacent to and southwest of the existing facilities. Those potential expansions would cover approximately 90 acres of land located entirely within the Company's private property.
Mr. De Gasperis concluded: "During the past year and half, we have expanded our land position, re-zoned the lands for both mining and non-mining uses, expanded our permits and eliminated substantially all material future royalties on those lands. These enhancements dramatically increase flexibility, minimize or eliminate lead times, and reduce future risks and costs."
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
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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.