Monarch Gold Generates Second Quarter Revenue Of $2.5 Million
The Corporation remained very active in the second quarter and expects 2020 to be very positive
with regard to the development and exploration of its gold projects
MONTREAL, Jan. 28, 2020 - Monarch Gold Corp. ("Monarch" or the "Corporation") (TSX: MQR) (OTCMKTS: MRQRF) (FRANKFURT: MR7) is pleased to report its preliminary financial results and highlights for the second quarter ended December 31, 2019. Amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.
Financial highlights
- Monarch recovered a total of 2,606 ounces of gold from the cleaning of its Camflo mill.
- The Corporation posted second quarter revenues of $2.5 million mainly from the sale of 1,383 ounces of gold at an average price of $1,771 (US $1,346) per ounce.
- As at December 31, 2019, the Corporation had $5.1 million in cash, $3.6 million in short-term investments and 500 ounces of gold in inventory.
- Monarch currently has a combined measured and indicated resource of 3.2 million ounces of gold with an inferred resource of 1.1 million ounces, including proven and probable reserves of 1.8 million ounces of gold for the Wasamac deposit (see table at the end of the release).
"We were very active in the second quarter with the filing of the project notice to initiate the provincial environmental assessment process for the Wasamac project, which usually lasts 18 to 24 months," said Jean-Marc Lacoste, President and Chief Executive Officer of Monarch. "We also pursued our discussions with potential partners for the Wasamac project, completed the clean-up of the Camflo mill, continued to develop our advanced McKenzie Break and Fayolle gold projects and closed the sale of the Simkar property to O3 Mining during the quarter, as well as strengthening our Board of Directors with the appointment of Laurie Gaborit. In the coming quarters our focus will remain on our flagship Wasamac project, and we will also pursue the development of our other advanced projects through investments, partnerships and other types of transactions, with the overall goal of getting the most out of our high-quality, high-potential mining assets in the current gold bull market."
Corporate highlights
High level of activity at Wasamac
On November 20, 2019, the Corporation filed a project notice with Quebec's Ministry of the Environment and the Fight Against Climate Change (MELCC) for its Wasamac gold project The project notice is the first step in the mining permit application process, which generally takes 18 to 24 months (see press release dated November 20, 2019).
In addition, the Government of Quebec has selected Wasamac to serve as a pilot project for the assessment and optimization of administrative delays in the processing of permit applications by the various ministries. The pilot project also aims to support mining projects in the development of best environmental practices.
On November 27, 2019, the Corporation acquired 24 claims on the west side of the Wasamac property. While the main purpose of the transaction was to secure a site for the future Wasamac mine infrastructure, the new claims also have good exploration potential, as the fault hosting the Wasamac deposit appears to extend onto the property (see press release dated November 27, 2019).
Finally, the Corporation is in discussions with several potential partners, both producing companies and financial groups, to advance the Wasamac project through the permitting, development and production phases. It should be noted that this major gold project also has excellent exploration potential along strike and at depth (see figure 1 and figure 2).
Strengthening of the Board of Directors with the appointment of Laurie Gaborit
Last October, we announced the appointment of Laurie Gaborit to the Corporation's Board of Directors. Laurie has over 20 years of experience in investor relations and corporate communications, her most recent position being that of Vice President, Investor Relations, with Detour Gold Corporation. As a key member of Detour Gold's management team, she participated in the company's initial public offering in 2007 and its transformation from exploration company to intermediate gold producer within a seven-year period, during which time Detour Gold's market capitalization increased from $120 million to over $3 billion. In addition to her skills, her in-depth knowledge of the financial markets will be of great value to the board as Monarch pursues the development of its gold projects in Quebec (see press release dated October 29, 2019).
Excellent drill results at McKenzie Break
The 2019 drill results received to date continue to meet our high expectations for McKenzie Break and support our assumption that this high-grade lens remains open to the east, west, south and at depth. The best results for the four holes of the first phase of the program were from hole MK-19-241, which intersected significant gold mineralization, including 26.78 g/t Au over 2.1 metres, and hole MK-19-242, which intersected 5.51 g/t Au over 4.0 metres, including 14.29 g/t Au over 1.5 metres (see press release dated January 8, 2020, for full results). The results for phases 2 and 3 of the program, consisting of 7 additional holes and 2 hole extensions, are expected in the coming weeks.
New resource estimate for the Fayolle deposit
On October 22, 2019, a 43-101 mineral resource estimate technical report was filed on SEDAR for the Fayolle deposit, acquired in August 2019. The report shows a new pit-constrained indicated resource of 405,600 tonnes at an average grade of 5.42 g/t Au, for a total of 70,630 ounces of gold, and an underground indicated resource of 300,800 tonnes at an average grade of 4.17 g/t Au, for a total of 40,380 ounces (see press release dated September 10, 2019, for more details regarding the resource estimate). The Corporation intends to continue developing Fayolle with the aim of increasing the resource.
Sale of the Simkar property to O3 Mining
On December 13, 2019, we closed the sale of the Simkar property to O3 Mining Inc. in a combined cash, share and warrant transaction valued at over $1.5 million (see press release dated December 13, 2019). This transaction has upside potential as O3 Mining has announced over 50,000 metres of drilling on its Quebec properties in 2020. The proceeds from this transaction will eventually be used to further develop our advanced gold projects.
The technical and scientific content of this press release has been reviewed and approved by Marc-André Lavergne, Eng., the Corporation's qualified person under National Instrument 43-101.
ABOUT MONARCH GOLD CORPORATION
Monarch Gold Corp. (TSX: MQR) is an emerging gold mining company focused on becoming a 100,000 to 200,000 ounce per year gold producer through its large portfolio of high-quality projects in the Abitibi mining camp in Quebec, Canada. The Corporation currently owns nearly 300 km² of gold properties (see map), including the Wasamac deposit (measured and indicated resource of 2.6 million ounces of gold), the Beaufor, Croinor Gold (see video), Fayolle, McKenzie Break and Swanson advanced projects and the Camflo and Beacon mills, as well as promising exploration projects. It also offers custom milling services out of its 1,600 tonne-per-day Camflo mill.
Forward-Looking Statements
The forward-looking statements in this press release involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Monarch's actual results, performance and achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied therein. Neither TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.
| Table 1 - Monarch Gold: Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves | ||||
| Tonnes (metric) | Grade | Ounces | ||
| Wasamac property1 | ||||
| Proven Reserves | 1.03 M | 2.66 | 88,000 | |
| Probable Reserves | 20.43 M | 2.56 | 1,679,000 | |
| Total Proven and Probable | 21.46 M | 2.56 | 1,767,000 | |
| 1 Source: NI 43-101 Technical Report, Feasibility Study of the Wasamac Project, Rouyn-Noranda, Québec, Canada, Carl Caumartin, P. Eng., Alain Dorval, P. Eng., John Henning, P. Eng., Richard Jundis, P. Eng. and Luciano Piciacchia, P. Eng. from BBA Inc., and Tudorel Ciuculescu, P. Geo. from Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., December 1, 2018. |
| Table 2 - Monarch Gold: Total Combined Mineral Resources | |||
| Tonnes (metric) | Grade | Ounces | |
| Wasamac property1 | |||
| Measured Resources | 3.99 M | 2.52 | 323,300 |
| Indicated Resources | 25.87 M | 2.72 | 2,264,500 |
| Total Measured and Indicated | 29.86 M | 2.70 | 2,587,900 |
| Total Inferred | 4.16 M | 2.20 | 293,900 |
| Croinor Gold mine2 | |||
| Measured Resources | 80,100 | 8.44 | 21,700 |
| Indicated Resources | 724,500 | 9.20 | 214,300 |
| Total Measured and Indicated | 804,600 | 9.12 | 236,000 |
| Total Inferred | 160,800 | 7.42 | 38,400 |
| Fayolle property3 | |||
| Indicated Resources (pit constrained) | 405,600 | 5.42 | 70,630 |
| Indicated Resources (underground) | 300,800 | 4.17 | 40,380 |
| Total Indicated | 706,400 | 4.89 | 111,010 |
| McKenzie Break property4 | |||
| Indicated Resources (pit constrained) | 939,860 | 1.59 | 48,133 |
| Indicated Resources (underground) | 281,739 | 5.90 | 53,448 |
| Total Indicated | 1,221,599 | 2.58 | 101,581 |
| Total Inferred | 574,780 | 3.46 | 64,027 |
| Swanson property5 | |||
| Indicated Resources (pit constrained) | 1,694,000 | 1.80 | 98,100 |
| Indicated Resources (underground) | 58,100 | 3.17 | 5,900 |
| Total Indicated | 1,752,100 | 1.85 | 104,100 |
| Total Inferred | 74,000 | 2.96 | 7,100 |
| Beaufor Mine6 | |||
| Measured Resources | 74,400 | 6.71 | 16,100 |
| Indicated Resources | 271,700 | 7.93 | 69,300 |
| Total Measured and Indicated | 346,200 | 7.67 | 85,400 |
| Total Inferred | 46,100 | 8.34 | 12,400 |
| Monique property7,8 | |||
| Total Inferred | 9,126,500 | 2.25 | 661,400 |
| TOTAL COMBINED9 | |||
| Measured and Indicated Resources | 3,225,991 | ||
| Inferred Resources | 1,077,227 | ||
| 1 Source: Technical Report on the Wasamac Project, Rouyn-Noranda, Québec, Canada, Tudorel Ciuculescu, M.Sc., P.Geo., October 25, 2017, Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. 2 Source: Monarques prefeasibility study (January 19, 2018) and resource estimate (January 8, 2016) 3 Source: NI 43-101 Mineral Resource estimate of the Fayolle Project, August 30, 2019, Alain Carrier, P.Geo., M.Sc., of InnovExplo Inc. 4 Source: NI 43?101 Technical Report on the McKenzie Break Project, April 17, 2018, Alain-Jean Beauregard, P.Geo., and Daniel Gaudreault, Eng., of Geologica Groupe-Conseil Inc. and Christian D'Amours, P.Geo., of GeoPointCom Inc. 5 Source: NI 43?101 Technical Report on the Swanson Project, June 20, 2018, Christine Beausoleil, P.Geo., and Alain Carrier, P.Geo., M.Sc., of InnovExplo Inc. 6 Source: NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Estimates of the Beaufor Mine as at September 30, 2017, Val-d'Or, Québec, Canada, Carl Pelletier, P. Geo. and Laurent Roy, Eng. 7 Source: NI 43-101 Mineral Resource estimate of the Monique Project as at August 28, 2019, Merouane Rachidi, Ph.D., P.Geo., and Claude Duplessis, Eng. of GoldMinds Geoservices. 8 Probe Metals Inc. may earn a 60% interest in the Monique property by spending an aggregate of $2,000,000 on exploration before January 2021. 9 Numbers may not add due to rounding. |
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SOURCE Monarch Gold Corp.
Contact
Jean-Marc Lacoste, President and Chief Executive Officer, 1-888-994-4465, jm.lacoste@monarquesgold.com; Mathieu Séguin, Vice President, Corporate Development, 1-888-994-4465, m.seguin@monarquesgold.com; Elisabeth Tremblay, Senior Geologist - Communications Specialist, 1-888-994-4465, e.tremblay@monarquesgold.com, www.monarquesgold.com