Potential For 20,000 Oz/Year Gold Production At Golden Chest Mine

COEUR D'ALENE, ID - New Jersey Mining Company (NJMC) reported that it’s 2021 drill plan is based on its "Deep Rooted" ore shoot model. Recent deeper drilling at the Golden Chest is showing deeper and better grade continuity of the Joe Dandy and Paymaster shoots¸ while Skookum core logging is still underway¸ core holes in this area also intercepted the mineralized Idaho Fault. Initial positive results and preliminary analysis have accelerated the potential for a significant increase of gold production per year at the Golden Chest and the evaluation for a new mill at the Golden Chest.

Preliminary internal estimates and the conceptual plans are based on firsthand corporate experience with development, mining, exploration, milling and other knowledge gained from NJMC operations. Budgeting for personnel, equipment, and underground development have been considered in this evaluation. Subject to adjustments, the company is working with preliminary AISC estimates in the $1,100/ounce - $1,200/ounce range for gold, at a 20,000 ounce/year run rate.

The Company is developing a plan to build a 360 tonne per day (tpd) flotation mill at the Golden Chest Mine in Murray, Idaho in order to increase gold production up to 20,000 ounces per year. Budgetary cost estimates are made for the major items in this plan including mine development, construction of the mill, land acquisition, resource in-fill drilling at the mine, and exploration drilling at the Alder Gulch property¸ two miles west of the mine. Current trucking of ore to the existing New Jersey mill is roughly $12/tonne. At just 50,000 tonnes per year, the potential annual savings from just this one component is estimated at $600,000.

Expansion of the existing underground mine would be undertaken with production coming from the Skookum Shoot of 50,000 tonnes per year and the Paymaster Shoot of 36,000 tonnes per year. An additional 30,000 tonnes per year will be sourced from an existing surface stockpile. Currently, the Skookum is the only area in production. Gold grades in the Skookum are expected to be about same as they are now at 6.5 gram per tonne (gpt) gold¸ while the Paymaster gold grade will require more drilling to determine accurately, the existing drilling indicates two narrower, but higher-grade veins with a diluted grade (2-meter mining width) of 8.5 gpt gold. The Paymaster veins are separated by an intrusion of quartz monzonite (15 to 30 meters thick) which is where the access ramp would be placed. Finally, the surface stockpile grade is well established from blasthole sampling at 1.09 gpt gold. Using these tonnages, gold grades, and metallurgical recoveries from current milling data, an annual production of approximately 20,000 ounces is indicated.