SSR Mining acquires land from Newmont to expand Marigold mine in Nevada

SSR Mining has expanded its landholding in Nevada, USA through the $22mn acquisition of 8,900 hectares contiguous to its Marigold mine which increases its land position to 19,800 hectares.

The Vancouver-based miner is planning exploration activities to further define and potentially increase mineral resources at the Trenton Canyon and Buffalo Valley properties.

Paul Benson, President & CEO at SSR Mining, commented: "Acquiring the Trenton Canyon and Buffalo Valley properties is expected to increase our gold resources and add multiple zones of mineralization proximate to our Marigold mine infrastructure. The acquisitions increase our land position by 84% since acquiring the Marigold mine and the Valmy property. 

Exploration plans aim to upgrade and expand known gold mineralization to potentially extend mine life, increase operating flexibility or access higher margin tonnes. We expect to commence exploration activities in the near-term and to begin incorporating the Properties into our longer-term mine planning as we evaluate opportunities to continue creating value at Marigold for our shareholders."

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The Trenton Canyon property consists of 7,350 hectares located immediately south and along the mineralized trend from the Marigold mine. The property was previously operated as an open-pit run-of-mine heap leach operation from 1996 to 2001. Based on data provided by Newmont, production during this period totalled approximately 290,000 ounces of gold from the North Peak, West and South pits within the Trenton Canyon property. The property also includes the North Peak heap leach pads and processing facilities. 

The Buffalo Valley property consists of 1,550 hectares located southwest of the Marigold mine. The historic Indicated mineral resources estimate for Buffalo Valley is 418,000 ounces of gold (20 million tonnes at an average gold grade of 0.65 g/t), as of December 31, 2018. 

Historical exploration activities on the Properties consist of over 2,700 drill holes totalling more than 340,000 meters of drilling completed between 1980 and 2012. The Properties host the same rock formations present at the Marigold mine, while displaying a higher intensity of rock alteration. Historic drilling indicates the prospective mineralized corridor at Trenton Canyon extends for at least 3,000 meters in a north-south direction, while surface geochemical anomalies potentially extend the mineralized footprint for over 5,000 meters. SSR’s exploration activities are expected to commence in the near-term and will initially target mineral resources definition and confirmation.