QMX Gold Completes Underground Mining Activity at Lac Herbin and Extends Custom Milling Contract
Toronto, Ontario / TheNewswire / March 19, 2015 / QMX Gold Corp. (TSXV:QMX)("QMX Gold" or the "Company") has concluded underground mining activity at its Lac Herbin Mine as it previously announced in a press release dated July 16, 2013. All broken ore has been brought to surface and the Company expects to complete the milling of surface stockpiles by the end of the third quarter.
QMX Gold will continue on-surface activities and operations at the Aurbel Mill. The mill will continue custom milling ore from the Elder Mine for Abcourt Mines Inc. ("Abcourt") and approximately 45,000 tonnes of ore from the Lac Herbin surface stockpile. QMX Gold has recently extended the term of the Custom Milling Agreement (see press release dated November 17th, 2014) to end by June 2015 with the option for Abcourt to extend it by an additional month in order to process all of the ore provided by Abcourt.
Although QMX Gold instituted a rigorous cost reduction program early in 2013, the Company made the decision in the summer of 2013 to suspend development at Lac Herbin due to the significant drop in the price of gold over the course of the year. The price of gold has continued to fall which has prevented a return to exploration and mine development at Lac Herbin.
QMX Gold took ownership of the Lac Herbin deposit through the completion of an option agreement in 2006 with Aur Resources. QMX Gold then planned and executed a 4-phase exploration and mine development plan from 2006 to 2008. In the third phase of the exploration and development program, the Lac Herbin Mine completed its first gold pour from ore mined during bulk sampling. The Lac Herbin Mine was officially opened in September 2008 and QMX Gold achieved commercial production in December of that same year with 17,000 ounces of gold produced in 2008 from the Mine's ore stockpiles.
Over the life of the mine, Lac Herbin produced approximately 1,029,600 tonnes of ore with an average grade of 4.76 g/t Au producing approximately 157,000 ounces of gold, with approximately another 4,700 ounces of recoverable gold expected from the processing of the stockpiles. Over the ten years of exploration and operation activities at Lac Herbin, QMX Gold is proud to report that there have been no significant injuries or fatalities among the workforce reflecting the dedication of QMX Gold's employees and superiors combined with the quality of QMX Gold's safety programs. Final mine production and selected financial details for Lac Herbin will be released with the filing of 2014 Annual Financial Statements, expected by the end of April 2015.
QMX Gold will put the Lac Herbin Mine on care and maintenance until approval from the Quebec Authorities is granted to proceed with site rehabilitation. Provisions for mine closure and reclamation expenses have been made as required by Quebec Mining Regulations.
Brett New, President and CEO of QMX Gold, commented: "The decision to suspend exploration and operations at Lac Herbin was a difficult one. We continued to monitor the gold market for signs of a recovery but the gold price never returned to a point where we could attain positive project economics and now we are completing underground mining activities at Lac Herbin." Mr. New continued: "I would like to thank the employees of QMX Gold who remained committed during this difficult time. With everyone's dedication we were able to extend our underground operations well past the original closure date originally thought to be September 2014 and exceeded our 2014 gold production target of 17,000 ounces of gold by the third quarter with gold production continuing in 2015."
Sale of Snow Lake
QMX Gold continues to proceed with the orderly sales process of the Snow Lake Mine with its senior lender, Third Eye Capital.
About QMX
QMX Gold Corp. is a Canadian mining company traded on the TSX-V under the symbol "QMX". The Company is focusing on mine development and exploration in Quebec and is actively looking for other mining projects for acquisition in the Val d'Or area.
Qualified Person
Technical information included in this release have been supervised, compiled, reviewed and approved by David Rigg, P.Geo., the Chairman of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined under NI 43-101.
Contact Information:
Brett New, Louis Baribeau, Rob Hopkins,
President and CEO Public Relations Investor Relations
Tel: (416) 861-5904 Tel: (514) 667-2304 Tel: (416) 861-5899
Toll free: +1 877-717-3027
Email: info@qmxgold.ca
Website: www.qmxgold.ca
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Mineral Resources:
This press release contains or may be deemed to contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements (express or implied) relating to mining, milling and future development of the assets of QMX Gold, the potential sale of Snow Lake, and the future financial or operating performance of QMX Gold, its properties and/or its projects. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company, its properties and/or its projects to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to those risks described in the disclosure documents of the Company filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. It should also be noted that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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