Santa Fe Gold, the domestic precious metals-focused mineral developer with four advanced properties in mining-friendly districts, the flagship of which started running ore in April this year at a cost of only $364 per gold equivalent ounce, was pleased to announce today that the company pulled in some $2.3M from S-3 shelf registration statement-related offerings, largely from existing stockholders.
Combined with the money coming in from the sale of gold and silver, this great news about the success of the offerings puts SFEG in a prime position to capitalize on the expansion potential at their flagship Summit silver-gold project. Recent reports out of the mine indicate that operating efficiencies continue to be improved, even as the logistical development push is being made, making the current output rate of 10k tons of ore per month just a data point on a steadily rising curve.
CEO of SFEG, Pierce Carson, spoke warmly of progress made at the Grant County, NM-located project (Steeple Rock Mining District near the AZ line). Carson noted throughput improvements made at the mill to the south (via US Highway 70) in Lordsburg, NM, as well, commenting on the exceptional rail service and localized fabrication, construction, and other support services available which have helped to speed up overall processing improvements. Similar operational headway at the Summit mine, including a spate of cost reduction measures, were detailed by Carson as contributing to anticipated extension of record-setting data sets across the board.
Across the workflow from ore and processing, to shipments of high value concentrates and silica flux products, SFEG has been pulling down record numbers. The company is looking to farm out this obvious prowess in addition to proceeding with development at the Summit site, imbuing the other three current projects with the same powerful managerial muscle, now backed by an even stronger working capital position. Looking at the company’s 57,267-acre Ortiz gold project over in Santa Fe, we see SFEG prepping for the Canadian-standard NI 43-101 report (in addition to ongoing environmental and other work) that will bring the current historical resource estimate to some 2M ounces of Au.
SFEG sales data from July/August alone shows roughly $3M taken in and the company anticipates this figure will rise steadily over coming quarters due to both throughput improvements and being on the cusp of encountering the higher grade ores in the Summit mine. The company’s immediate development goal will be to ramp up production output capacity by some 20% at Summit while heading into the higher grade ore.
The company has a sizeable land position at the Lordsburg mill site and SFEG is really well situated moving forward to exploit their regional strategy, which seeks to add to the already strong footprint that includes the micaceous iron oxide-containing Planet property in La Paz County, AZ, as well as the Black Canyon mica project near Phoenix.
More information on Santa Fe Gold Corp. can be found at the company’s website: www.SantaFeGoldCorp.com
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