Scorpio Gold's 70% owned US subsidiary, Mineral Ridge Gold, LLC, submitted an Amendment to the Plan of Operations to increase the surface disturbance at Mineral Ridge from approximately 612 acres to approximately 906 acres (448 acres BLM administered land; 458 acres private land) to facilitate the development of the previously authorized Mineral Ridge Mine Project operations. The major components of the proposed activities include: expansion of the Plan of Operations boundary; addition to operations of the Bluelite and Solberry pits; addition of two new waste rock disposal areas; addition of a physical barrier to public access near the crusher; and reallocation and increase of exploration disturbance areas.
Peter J. Hawley, CEO, reports, "We are very pleased that our Amendment to the Plan of Operations has been accepted by the State and Federal regulators. I would like to thank everyone involved from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Land Management and the various contractors who all came together and assisted the Mineral Ridge staff in this process. This approval allows us to move forward with our scheduled mining at the Bluelite and Solberry pits in Q2 2015. Unique to the Bluelite and Solberry deposits is that neither has been mined before, hence their high-grade core zones are preserved and expected to positively impact the grade of ore being processed at both Mineral Ridge and the Company's 100% owned Goldwedge mill facility."
Scorpio Gold holds a 70% interest in the producing Mineral Ridge gold mining operation located in Esmeralda County, Nevada with joint venture partner Waterton Global Value L.P. (30%), and Scorpio Gold is currently entitled to receive 80% of cash flow generated. Mineral Ridge is a conventional open pit mining and heap leach operation. The Mineral Ridge property is host to multiple gold-bearing structures, veins and lenses at exploration, development and production stages. Scorpio Gold also holds a 100% interest in the advanced exploration-stage Goldwedge property and processing facility in Manhattan, Nevada. The Company is preparing its 2015 exploration program for the Goldwedge property and is currently toll milling high-grade Mineral Ridge ore at the Goldwedge plant, which is permitted for 400 tons per day.
The Company relies on litigation protection for forward-looking statements. This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in such forward-looking statements, including risks related to open pit mining and heap leach operations and those risk factors outlined in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis as filed on SEDAR. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty thereof.