Approval Received For Drilling At The Oro Cruz Project

VANCOUVER - Southern Empire Resources Corp. reported that the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) stated that Southern Empire's subsidiary, SMP Gold Corp., was approved to "move forward with mineral exploration on public lands" at its wholly owned Oro Cruz Project located in Imperial County, California.

David Tupper, VP of Exploration, said, "Receiving the BLM's approval for our planned Oro Cruz exploration is a major step forward for us, one that brings us much closer to both drilling the high-grade, oxide gold zone of the Cross Mine, which last produced gold in 1996, and to establish surface infrastructure that will enable us to access its underground workings, which remain in excellent condition."

The BLM issued a Decision Record (DR), based on information provided by an Environmental Assessment prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and a signed Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), approving proposed exploration activities (the Proposed Action) as described in both Southern Empire's Plan of Operations (the Plan) for the Oro Cruz Project and in the Environmental Assessment/Mitigated Negative Declaration (EA/MND) jointly prepared in coordination with the Imperial County Planning Department (ICPD), which is the lead agency for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) permitting for the Oro Cruz Project.

BLM approval of the Proposed Action set out in the Oro Cruz Project Plan of Operations allows for: 1) Establishment of up to 65 drill pads in seven drill target areas. 2) Reverse Circulation (RC) and/or core drilling of up to 65 drill holes. 3) Improvement and construction of access roads. 4) Creation of a staging area at the Cross Mine underground portal for infrastructure required to support future underground drill programs.

The Plan proposes that Southern Empire conduct the Proposed Action on lands administered and managed by the BLM that specifically occur within a 257-hectare (ha; 635 acre) area of the ~184,000-acre Picacho Area of Critical Environmental Concern, which covers important cultural and biological resources and the historic Cargo Muchacho - Tumco Mining district. The actual surface disturbance from the Proposed Action is limited to approximately 8.3 ha (20.5 acres) and most of the proposed drill sites are within areas previously disturbed by the historical American Girl Mining Joint Venture operations. The EA/MND analyzed the affected environment and environmental impacts and established environmental protection measures to avoid or mitigate conflicts with, and undue degradation of, natural, cultural, and historic resources associated with the Proposed Action.

The BLM's approval of the Proposed Action, as described in the Plan and the EA/MND complies with federal and state laws related to environmental protection and the protection of cultural resources and is in conformance with applicable land use plans, laws, and regulations and that it will not cause unnecessary or undue degradation.  In addition, the BLM has determined that the Oro Cruz Project is "reasonably incident" to mining and would attain the stated level of protection and reclamation required by specific laws in the California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA).