Phase Two Of Fast Leach Production At Bonanza Harquabala Mine

PHOENIX, AZ - Tombstone Exploration Corporation reported on Phase Two Production based on current test results for the Bonanza Harquahala Mine. The next phase will process the tailing and the remaining waste rock, as agglomerated product. The lab tests have shown that agglomerated tailing/waste rock gave very “fast” leaching. Lab results show average recovery of 50% of Au in short amount of time.

There are total of 500,000 tons available for processing. In this scenario, within a year all 500,000 tons will be crushed/agglomerated, and the process will recover 10,500 oz Au.

Richard Moores, President of the Bonanza Mining Company, said, “Based on average grade, used in the estimated model in the Technical Report, but without high-grade stacked first due to movement of material during previous ops, and assuming 50k tons crushed and stacked per month, pretax cashflow after a month's delay for startup and initial heap less monthly stacking and op costs should be about $1.2-1.4 million per month at $1700/oz Au; to this should be added contributions from post-flush recovery. This assumes ~60% flush of gold stacked in first two weeks of leaching, followed by average 5% per month trailing production thereafter for approximately four months and could add up to $300-500k/month after several months.

This could continue flush for approximately eight to ten months, depending on how much material is utilized/misplaced during construction and prior ops. Stacking/flush production could continue for ten months, followed by tailing off for several months thereafter, so overall cash margin from ops could be in the $12-18MM range, if all bears out.

Recent metallurgical test results are in line with previous testing by others, including Continental. By stacking properly crushed and agglomerated material we can anticipate an initial surge of production of ~40-60% of contained gold the first ten days or so under leach, with the balance trickling out over several months. Implementing a continuous program of stacking and leaching, we should experience an ongoing stream of surges, creating a plateau of rapid recovery until all material has been stacked, followed by an extended period of slowly decreasing off take.”