Scorpio Gold looking to expand the life of Mineral Ridge mine

Canadian gold producer Scorpio Gold Corp (CVE:SGN) posted positive net earnings for 2016 of $339,000 compared to a loss in 2015.

The miner produced 36,879 ounces of the yellow metal at the Mineral Ridge mine in Nevada compared to 39,690 ounces during 2015.

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That was at a cost of $881 per ounce versus $781 per ounce the previous year.

This led to revenues of $42.8 million compared to $44.6 million during 2015.

Net earnings for the year were $339,000 versus a loss of $17.9mln in 2015.

Looking ahead, the group said: ” Based on the company’s current mine plan, it currently anticipates mining of gold at Mineral Ridge through to August 2017.

“Due to permitting timelines, the company anticipates production of gold at Mineral Ridge to be 20 – 25,000 ounces from the Mary LC, Brodie and Bluelite south pits.”

It noted that the  Custer pit and other areas for which permitting is outstanding, were not included in this estimate.

Scorpio added that due to the company’s short remaining life of mine, it is taking initiatives to extend the life through additional drilling to expand its resources, applying for permits to expand and extend current operations of new and existing pits, expanding the heap leach pad, and conducting a drilling program on its leach pad to determine if the leach pad material is amenable for further gold recovery using milling processes.

As reported last month, it kicked off a drilling program on a heap leach pad at Mineral Ridge in a bid to potentially recover up to  130,000 ounces of gold.

The work consists of 34 holes to provide sampling of around 6.3mln tonnes of mineralized material contained within the pad.

Story by ProactiveInvestors