Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/1174544
O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 9 www.resourceworld.com 45 MINING LYDIAN GETS GO-AHEAD FOR ARMENIAN MINE Lydian International Limited [LYD-TSX] reported that that during a recent live Facebook broadcast, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, of the Republic of Armenia, stated that "The information we currently have at this moment is very clear, the exploitation of the mine does not harm the environment." The Prime Minister went on to state that Lydian would be permitted to proceed with the Amulsar Project. Edward Sellers, Interim President & CEO of Lydian, commented: "Thousands of Lydian supporters welcome final recog- nition from the Government of Armenia that there are no grounds for preventing Lydian from completing and operating the Amulsar Project." "There are significant challenges ahead as Lydian moves to recover and rebuild its capacity to operate over the coming months, but we are looking forward to engaging with our stakeholders and posi- tioning Lydian to be able to get back to work." Sellers continued: "Lydian has been fully transparent in its environmental and operating practices. Those practices meet or exceed all applicable international standards and were fully evaluated and confirmed as part of the comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment under which Lydian received its mining permits." Lydian is focused on construction at its 100%-owned Amulsar Project in south-central Armenia. However, ille- gal blockades have prevented access to Amulsar since late June 2018. Amulsar is expected to be a large-scale, low-cost oper- ation with production targeted to average approximately 225,000 ounces annually over an initial 10-year mine life. Estimated mineral resources contain 3.5 million mea- sured and indicated gold ounces and 1.3 million inferred gold ounces as outlined in the Q1 2017 Technical Report. Existing mineral resources beyond cur- rent reserves and open extensions provide opportunities to improve average annual production and extend the mine life. Lydian is committed to good international industry practices in all aspects of its operations including production, sustain- ability, and corporate social responsibility. BARKSDALE CLOSES SAN ANTONIO ACQUISITION Barksdale Capital Corp. [BRO-TSXV; BRKCF-OTCQB] has closed the acquisi- tion of the San Antonio copper porphyry prospect in Santa Cruz County, Arizona announced July 16, 2019. The company issued 898,809 common shares of the com- pany to Teck Resources Inc. [TECK.B-TSX; TECK-NYSE] as part of the acquisition. All shares issued to Teck are subject to a four-month hold period expiring December 2, 2019. Barksdale Capital is a base metal exploration company headquartered in Vancouver, BC, that is focused on the acquisition and exploration of highly pro- spective base metal projects in the United States. The San Antonio property is located approximately 5km southeast of Barksdale's flagship Sunnyside Project. VICTORIA GOLD POURS FIRST YUKON GOLD Victoria Gold Corp. [VIT-TSXV] has poured its first gold bar at its newly-con- structed Eagle gold mine in the central Yukon Territory. The Eagle Gold Project construction was completed in early July and handed over to the Victoria operations team, one month ahead of schedule and on the revised bud- get. Commissioning took place through July and August and is now substantively complete. The Victoria operations management team is fully staffed and in control of site. Operations ramp-up is in progress and tracking on schedule. "I am extremely proud to announce that construction of Eagle came in ahead of schedule and on budget [$487 million]. It's a tremendous accomplishment and speaks to the quality of the entire team." stated John McConnell, President and CEO. Over 1 million tonnes of ore have been mined from the Eagle pit, which is 60% ahead of schedule for 2019. A significant portion of material on the margins of the Eagle deposit that were previously char- acterized as waste has been determined to be ore through assaying the production drill cuttings as part of the grade control program. Within the deposit, the tonnes and grade reporting are reconciling well with actual mining results and the published resource estimate. With the acceleration of the construc- tion schedule, over 3 million tonnes of ore will be delivered to the heap leach pad by 2019 year-end. Nearly 700,000 tonnes of Eagle ore have been stacked on the heap leach pad. The remaining 300,000 tonnes of ore mined to date has been stockpiled and is actively being utilized to accelerate additional ore to the heap leach pad in 2019. Ore leaching activities are underway and gold in solu- tion is currently being loaded onto carbon in the fully operational gold recovery plant. Victoria Gold's 100%-owned Dublin Gulch gold property, where the Eagle Mine is located, is approximately 375 km north of Whitehorse, and 85 km from the town of Mayo. The property is accessible by road year-round, and is located within Yukon Energy's electrical grid. n