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Sage Gold works towards re-opening former producer Clavos Mine

By Gregory Reynolds, Mining Life

Oct 31, 2017

Sage Gold Inc. continues to move its Clavos Property towards production. The Clavos is located in the prolific Timmins Mining Camp and close geographically (20kms) to Goldcorp’s Hoyle Pond Mine that has produced more than 2.4 million oz. since 1985 and is still in operation.

Clavos is also located 10 kilometres from Primero Gold’s mill in Stock Township.

“The Clavos gold deposit is one of the few gold deposits in Canada with advanced permits situated in one of the most prolific and active gold camps in Canada.

The improved investment environment for precious metal companies and the relatively low capital costs required to place Clavos into production has greatly facilitated the company’s ability to move the project ahead,” says president and CEO Nigel Lees. A NI43-101 new resource estimate in October 2012 includes Indicated mineral resources of 1,258,400 tonnes at 4.81 g/t Au totalling 194,600 ounces of gold and Inferred mineral resources of 796,000 tonnes at 4.7 g/t Au representing 120,000 ounces. These resources are reported at a base case cut-off grade of 2.75 g/t Au and individual assays have been capped at 60 g/t.

Sage currently plans to complete a reserve estimate and a pre feasibility study on the Clavos property.

In the event that a production decision is made that is not based on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, readers are cautioned that there is increased uncertainty and higher risk of economic and technical failure associated with such a production decision.

It has one of the lowest CAPEX in the industry with, $70+ million historically invested by St Andrew Goldfields and Sage excluding prior expenditures by United Tex-Sol, Kinross and Canamax.

Infrastructure is in place, including underground ramp access to the 300 metre level, underground levels developed every 25 metres, power to site, surface ventilation system and water management system.

Existing mining permit is good up to 2019.

Sage is a mineral exploration and development company that has primary interests in near-term production and exploration properties in Ontario. Its main assets are the Clavos Gold Property, 100% owned, in Timmins and the 100% owned Onaman Property and other exploration properties in the Beardmore-Geraldton Gold Camp.

Technical reports and information relating to the properties can be obtained from the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) website at www.sedar.com and www.sagegoldinc.com.

Lees commented: “Sage announced the closing of a $11.5 million financing commitment in November 2016, of which approximately $7.2 million is allocated to fund the development and restart of the Clavos Mine.

Historical expenditures by St Andrew Goldfields and Sage on the property have exceeded $60.0 million, excluding prior expenditures by United Tex- Sol, Kinross and Canamax.

Dewatering of the Clavos deposit underground workings has commenced and is on time and on budget. Rehabilitation will follow the dewatering process to define the stope blocks and provide underground drill stations to test the down plunge extensions of the existing zones.

Sage is gearing up for production at the Clavos Gold property as early as September of this year. The mine is permitted for a 700-TPD operation and Sage has an agreement with Primero Gold to process 600 TPD at the company’s Stock Mill located 10 kilometers by a private road from the Clavos Mine. On the basis of a Preliminary Economic Assessment completed in 2013, management is planning to commence production from the highest grade, lowest-cost areas of the mine and at the same time complete a new resource and prefeasibility study.

The Company is greatly benefiting from the money spent by the previous owners, St Andrew Goldfields, in addition to the ability to utilize the excess milling capacity at the Stock Mill. The Clavos capex is fully financed. In February, Sage announced the commencement of a drilling program at its Onaman property in Northwestern Ontario. This program was carried out simultaneously with that underway on the Clavos. With a history of episodic exploration activity dating back several decades, the Onaman Property hosts numerous historical mineralized zones and occurrences that have been partly delineated to date.

Hosted in a sequence of hydrothermally altered and tectonized mafic through felsic volcanics and derived volcaniclastics, the Onaman property displays the main features of a typical volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) system, and is consequently considered to host significant exploration potential. Sage has completed a preliminary program comprising 1,000 meters, drilled into the historical Headway zinc-silver- lead-gold deposit. A reassessment of the Lynx deposit, the historical focus of Sage’s exploration efforts on the property, has established that it is a ‘footwall feeder zone’ of the type typically found underlying VMS deposits.

The fact that the Headway lies immediately above it where the main mineralized body in a VMS system is typically found renders this historical mineralized zone significant from an exploration perspective. Lees stated: “The Headway and Lynx deposits, hosting a combination of base and precious metals between them, are two important parts of the as yet incomplete Onaman story. This current drilling program will help to further unravel it. It nicely compliments the ongoing drilling program at the company’s Clavos gold deposit.”