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30 www.resourceworld.com a u g u s t / s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 6 Golden Queen Mining Co. Ltd. [GQM- TSX; GQMNF-OTCQX] is in the process of commissioning its 50%-owned Soledad Mountain gold-silver project about 8 km south of Mohave, California. The other 50% of the project is held by Gauss LLC, a private company jointly owned by Leucadia National Corp. [LUK- NYSE], a diversified holding company, and Auvergne LLC a private company owned by the Clay family who have been long-term shareholders of the Soledad Mountain Project. Despite popular opinion, there are some jurisdictions in California that are relatively mining friendly. Kern County in southern California is one of them. It represents the state's top oil-producing county and accounts for about 75% of California's oil production. On March 1 this year, Golden Queen poured its first gold and silver doré bar. Since January a total of 2.3 million tons have been mined and operations are now running seven days per week. The company hopes to achieve commercial pro- duction by the second half of this year. The mine hosts proven and probable reserves of 46.3 million tonnes averaging 0.66 g/t gold and 11.09 g/t silver (983,600 contained ounces gold and 16.5 million contained ounces of silver). At the moment only about 65% of the resource has been included in the mine plan. With a planned throughput of 4.6 million short tons per year the mine is expected to crank out on average 74,000 ounces of gold and 781,000 ounces of sil- ver per year. Recoveries are estimated to be 82.1% for gold and 50% for silver. According to an updated feasibility study published in 2015, life-of-mine operating costs are estimated at US $9.99/ tonne of ore processed. Total cash costs net of silver by-product credits and sustaining capex is estimated to by US $558/oz. Based on a price of US $1,250/oz gold and US $17/oz silver, the after-tax NPV (5%) was US $213.9 million with an IRR of 28.3%. The mine is estimated to have a life of 11.3 years with a strip ratio of 3.41:1 waste to ore. The mine plan assumes that about 27 million tonnes of waste rock will be sold as aggregate and removed from site prior to closure and reclamation. It also assumes that a portion of the leach pad is also sold as aggregate and removed from site. If the company cannot perform these rec- lamation procedures it must re-handle a significant quantity of residues either as backfill into the open pits or spread the residue on the property to meet reclama- tion requirements. Gold and silver mineralization at Soledad Mountain occurs in a swarm of mainly northwest striking, subparallel to anastomosing (braided), epithermal quartz veins that formed in faults and fractures within the Miocene-aged rhyolitic volca- nic units. Golden Queen has 99.9 million shares outstanding, US $16 million in cash and US $48.4 million in debt. n Stacking ore on the heap leach pad at the Soledad mountain gold-silver mine. photo courtesy golden Queen mining Co. Ltd. miNiNg Golden Queen Mining moving towards full production