Titan Mining Announces Option to Earn up to 100% in the Mineral Ridge Gold Project in Nevada
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Titan Mining Announces Option to Earn up to 100% in the
Mineral Ridge Gold Project in Nevada
Vancouver, B.C., August 31, 2020 – Titan Mining Corporation (TSX:TI) (“ Titan” or the
“Company”) is pleased to announce the signing of an Option Agreement (the “ Agreement”) on
the Mineral Ridge Property located in Esmerelda County, Nevada (“ Mineral Ridge Property ”)
from Scorpio Gold Corporation (TSX.V: SGN) (“Scorpio Gold”) through its US affiliates.
Mineral Ridge Highlights
Current open pit Mineral Resource of 350,000 oz gold at an average grade of 1.16 g/t
Fully permitted for production and drill-ready
Widespread mineralization, only sporadic exploration completed to date
Historical drill results, never followed up, on including:
o 1.17 oz gold per ton over 25 ft or 40.1 g/t gold over 7.6m
o 0.55 oz gold per ton over 30 ft or 18.9 g/t gold over 9.1m
o 0.31 oz gold per ton over 40 ft or 10.6 g/t gold over 12.2m
o 0.34 oz gold per ton over 30 ft or 11.7 g/t gold over 9.1m
o 0.28 oz gold per ton over 40 ft or 9.6 g/t gold over 12.2m
Titan Chairman, Richard Warke, commented, “After an extensive review, we are delighted to have
found another US-based asset with tremendous upside potential, much like our Empire State
Mine. What we see in Mineral Ridge is a property with widespread, high grade mineralization that
has never seen a comprehensive exploration program given a lack of adequate funding and
historical focus on small scale mining. Mineral Ridge fits all of the criteria we have as a mining
company for assets: the property is in a great jurisdiction, is fully permitted for production and
drilling, and has known resources of 350,000 ounces of gold, and tremendous exploration
potential. We believe a portfolio of projects that fits this strategy is the best way to grow and
translate into building substantial value for our shareholders.”
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Figure 1: Location map of Mineral Ridge and ownership boundary
Titan CEO, Don Taylor, stated, “The property is a well-endowed mineralized system that has, to
date, been woefully under-explored. The Company is finalizing its exploration programs and
budgets and, as funding requirements become clear, will seek to raise additional capital via an
equity offering, which will be backed by Titan’s Chairman, Richard Warke. Our plan will be to
immediately begin a comprehensive drill campaign with a target to expand resources around the
existing open pits and thoroughly test the other targets with the potential for new discoveries.”
Exploration Plan
Initially, exploration will focus on the down-dip and strike extensions of the Drinkwater, Mary, Mary
LC, Brodie NW, Custer, Bunkhouse and the Oromonte pit areas outside the existing Mineral
Resources previously defined (refer to Figure 2 highlighting areas of previous mining, planned
mining and exploration target areas). Examples of select drill intercepts that will require follow-up
are:
Oromonte target area;
o 1.17 oz gold per ton over 25 ft or 40.1 g/t gold over 7.6m
o 0.55 oz gold per ton over 30 ft or 18.9 g/t gold over 9.1m
o 0.49 oz gold per ton over 13 ft or 16.8 g/t 13.2 gold feet 4.0m
o 0.31 oz gold per ton over 40 ft or 10.6 g/t gold over 12.2m
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Custer target area;
o 0.47 oz gold per ton over 15 ft or 16.1 g/t gold over 4.6m
o 0.34 oz gold per ton over 30 ft or 11.7 g/t gold over 9.1m
o 0.28 oz gold per ton over 40 ft or 9.6 g/t gold over 12.2m
o 0.24 oz gold per ton over 25 ft or 8.2 g/t gold over 7.6m
Seven additional targets, outside the production areas, have been identified for immediate
exploration drilling. These targets include: North Springs, Chieftain, Vanderbilt, Custer Ridge,
Drinkwater NW and Tarantula. These targets have been prioritized based on surface sampling
of high-grade gold and/or a combination of structure and lithology hosting anomalous gold (refer
to Figure 3).
Figure 2: Mineral Ridge highlighting areas of previous mining, planned mining and
exploration target areas.
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Figure 3. Limited surface rock chip sampling results for the Mineral Ridge claims.
The Mineral Ridge Property is a fully permitted mine and mill operation comprised of
approximately 14,000 acres of patented, fee-owned, and unpatented mining claims which include
certain water rights (refer to Figure 1 for location and boundary map). Historically, the property
has produced approximately 1 million ounces of gold from underground and open pit mining
operations. The recent history of the project under Scorpio Gold focused on identifying Resources
and Reserves to support potential for small-scale mining. With this in mind, an Updated Feasibility
Study and National Instrument Technical Report on the Mineral Ridge Project was reported on
January 2, 2018, showcasing gold hosted in remaining heap leach material and remnant pit areas
with Mineral Resources inventory totaling approximately 350,000 ounces of gold, inclusive of
Mineral Reserves. A summary of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves by category can be
seen in Table 1 and Table 2.
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Table 1: Mineral Resources Summary
Mineral Resources
Category Tons
(000's)
Gold
(opt)
Gold
(g/t)*
Contained Gold
(oz)
Leach Pad Resources
Measured 2,895 0.017 0.58 48,500
Indicated 4,220 0.017 0.58 73,200
Total Measured and Indicated 7,117 0.017 0.58 121,700
Run-of-Mine Resources
Measured 2,088 0.074 2.54 155,200
Indicated 1,095 0.066 2.26 72,600
Total Measured and Indicated 3,183 0.072 2.47 227,800
Total Resource Inventory
Measured 4,983 0.041 1.40 203,700
Indicated 5,314 0.027 0.93 145,800
Total Measured and Indicated 10,300 0.034 1.16 349,500
1. Rounding as required by reporting guidelines may result in summation differences. Tonnage and grade measurements
are in Imperial units. Grades are reported in ounces per ton.
2. Leach Pad Mineral Resources have an effective date of June 29, 2017 with the following assumptions: a long-term
gold price of $1,216/oz; assumed process costs of $11/t; and metallurgical recovery for gold of 91%. Silver was not
used in the consideration of reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. Silver recoveries from heap leach
pad material are projected to be 24%.
3. Run of Mine Mineral Resources have an effective date of November 30, 2017 and are reported within the pit designs at
a 0.01 opt gold cut-off grade. These Mineral Resource are considered to be amenable to open-pit mining. Conceptual
Whittle pit shells used the following assumptions: a long-term gold price of $1,350/oz; assumed combined operating
costs of $12.36/t (mining, process, general and administrative); metallurgical recovery for gold of 95%, and variable pit
slope angles that ranged from 38–42º. Mineral Resources are constrained to the area within the grade-shell
wireframes. The areas outside of these grade shells are assumed to be at zero grade.
4. The Qualified Person for both estimates is Mr. Ian Crundwell, P.Geo., of Mine Technical Services.
5. Mineral Resources are quoted inclusive of Mineral Reserves. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not
have demonstrated economic viability.
6. *Titan shows g/t for reporting purposes only (1 oz./short ton = 34.2857 grams/tonne).
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Table 2: Mineral Reserves Summary
Mineral Reserves
Category Tons
(000's)
Gold
(opt)
Gold
(g/t)*
Contained Gold
(oz)
Leach Pad Reserves
Proven 2,895 0.017 0.58 48,500
Probable 4,220 0.017 0.58 73,200
Less Material Remaining -260 0.017 0.58 -4,500
Total Proven and Probable 6,855 0.017 0.58 117,200
Run-of-Mine Reserves
Proven 2,474 0.047 1.61 116,200
Probable 1,239 0.032 1.10 40,100
Total Proven and Probable 3,713 0.042 1.44 156,300
Total Reserves Inventory
Proven 5,369 0.031 1.06 164,700
Probable 5,199 0.021 0.71 108,800
Total Proven and Probable 10,568 0.026 0.88 273,500
1. Rounding as required by reporting guidelines may result in summation differences. Tonnage and grade measurements
are in Imperial units. Grades are reported in ounces per ton.
2. Leach Pad Mineral Reserves have an effective date of June 29, 2017 with the following assumptions: long-term gold
price of $1,300/oz; assumed total ore process costs of $10.59/t; metallurgical recovery for gold of 91%, and 24% for
silver, refining and smelting cost of $28.39/oz of gold. Allowance has been made for the facility location which excludes
260,000 t; this material must remain in-place, based on the heap material mining and tailings placement design.
3. Run of Mine Mineral Reserves are effective as of November 30, 2017. Mineral Reserves are reported within the pit
designs at a 0.01 opt gold cut-off grade. Pit designs incorporate the following considerations: base case gold price of
$1,300/oz; pit slope angles that range from 38--47º; average life-of-mine metallurgical recovery assumption of 93%;
crushing costs of $1.81/t, process cost of $5.79/t, general and administrative and tax costs of $2.90/t; and average
mining costs of $1.42/t mined
4. The Qualified Person for both estimates is Mr. Jeffery Choquette P.E., an employee of Hard Rock Consulting.
5. *Titan shows g/t gold for reporting purposes only (1 oz./short ton = 34.2857 grams/tonne).
Option Agreement Terms
Terms of the Agreement require Titan to spend US$35 million in staged expenditures over a
period of 5 years (the “ Option Term”) to earn 80% ownership interest (the “ Earn-in Option”) in
Mineral Ridge Gold LLC (“MRG”), an indirect subsidiary of Scorpio Gold which currently holds all
of the mineral rights and water rights comprising the Mineral Ridge Property. In addition to the
Earn-in Option, Titan will have the right to acquire 100% interest (the “Purchase Option”) in MRG
upon spending US$7 million by January 1, 2022 and making a cash payment of US$35 million on
or before December 31, 2022. During the Option Term, Scorpio Gold may continue its gold
recoveries from the heap leach operations on the Mineral Ridge Property for its own account with
25% of the proceeds of such operation, net of operating costs, to be held in a trust account for
the benefit of Titan, subject to Titan exercising either the Earn-in Option or the Purchase Option. If
Titan does not exercise the Earn-in Option or the Purchase Option, the funds in the trust account
will be released to MRG.
Titan is 100% owner of the Empire State Mine located in upstate New York. The underground
mine and mill complex produce approximately 4 million payable pounds per month of zinc
contained in concentrate at a site operating cost of approximately $0.60 per pound. The mine
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continues to steadily increase production as part of the mine plan. In addition, evaluation is
underway to incorporate three, near-surface zinc resources into the mine plan that will be
recovered through open pit mining methods. The additional capacity is expected to be processed
through the existing mill facility which is currently under-utilized and nameplated for 5,000 tons
per day.
Qualified Person
The technical results of this news release have been reviewed, verified and approved by Donald
R. Taylor, MSc., PG, Chief Executive Officer of Titan, a qualified person as defined by National
Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101). Mr. Taylor has 30 years of mineral exploration and mining
experience, and is a Registered Professional Geologist through the SME (registered member
#4029597).
The Mineral Resources estimates within the technical report from Scorpio Gold entitled, “Updated
Feasibility Study and National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report: Mineral Ridge Project”, with
an effective date of January 2, 2018, were prepared by Mr. Ian Crundwell, P.Geo., of Mine
Technical Services.
The Mineral Reserves estimates within the technical report from Scorpio Gold entitled, “Updated
Feasibility Study and National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report: Mineral Ridge Project”, with
an effective date of January 2, 2018, were prepared by Mr. Jeffery Choquette P.E., an employee
of Hard Rock Consulting.
About Titan Mining Corporation:
Titan is an Augusta Group company which produces zinc concentrate at its 100%-owned Empire
State Mine (“ESM”) located in New York State. ESM is a group of zinc mines which started
production in the early 1900s. Titan is built for growth, focused on value and committed to
excellence. The Company’s shares are listed under the symbol "TI" on the Toronto Stock
Exchange. For more information on the Company, please visit our website at
www.titanminingcorp.com.
Contact
For further information, please contact:
Investor Relations:
Jacqueline Wagenaar, VP Investor Relations
Telephone: 416-366-5678 Ext. 203 | Email: [email protected]
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. Words such as “expects”,
“anticipates” and “intends” or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements. Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions,
assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of
this press release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other
factors that may cause the actual results, performance of current and additional drilling, or timing
of events to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
information, including but not limited to the factors described in greater detail in the Company’s
Management’s Discussion and Analysis and Annual Information Form for the year ended
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December 31, 2019, available at www.sedar.com. No securities regulatory authority has
expressed an opinion about the securities described herein and it is an offence to claim otherwise.
Titan undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by
law.