TSX-V: SMP
OTC: SMPEF
Frankfurt: 5RE
VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 16,
2024 /CNW/ - Southern Empire Resources Corp.
(Southern Empire) (TSXV: SMP) announces that subsequent to approval
by the Imperial County Planning Commission (ICPC) at a hearing held
on January 10, 2024, its subsidiary,
SMP Gold Corp., has received a Notice of Determination approving
the Reclamation Plan for the Oro Cruz Project Exploration Plan of
Operations (the Plan) that governs the proposed exploration drill
program at its wholly-owned Oro Cruz Project located in
Imperial County, California.
"Having previously received federal
approvals from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management pursuant to the
National Environmental Policy Act on September 1, 2023, the recent approval of the Oro
Cruz Project Reclamation Plan by the Imperial County Planning
Commission, the lead agency for permitting related to the
California Environmental Quality Act, is a major step forward for
Southern Empire. We look forward to drilling the high-grade, oxide
gold zone of the Oro Cruz Cross Mine from which gold was last
produced in 1996. I would like to especially thank our staff and
consultants for their commitment to the Oro Cruz Project permitting
process and our shareholders for their continued
patience" commented Dale
Wallster, Southern Empire's CEO.
The Plan proposes that SMP Gold Corp. conduct mineral
exploration drilling activities (the Proposed Action) requiring up
to 8.31 hectares (ha; 20.54 acres) of surface disturbance on,
primarily, previously mined and disturbed land administered and
managed by the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of
Land Management (BLM). The proposed temporary drill pads,
operational staging site and access routes occur within an
encompassing 253 ha (626 acre) Project Area (as defined in the
Plan) located in the southwest corner of the 184,000-acre Picacho
Area of Critical Environmental Concern, the latter designated to
include important biological habitats, indigenous peoples' cultural
sites and the historic Cargo Muchacho - Tumco Mining
District. The Proposed Action is within areas previously
disturbed by the historical American Girl Mining Joint Venture
operations, which concluded in 1996 as gold prices declined and
ultimately bottomed at US $251.70 in
August of 1999.
Highlights of the Plan include:
- Establishment of up to 65 drill pads in seven drill target
areas
- Reverse Circulation (RC) and/or core drilling of up to 65
drill holes
- Improvement and construction of temporary access
roads
- Creation of a staging area at the Cross Mine underground
portal for infrastructure required to support future underground
drill programs.
At the January 10, 2024 hearing,
the ICPC made the following determinations regarding the
Proposed Action and the Reclamation Plan:
- The Oro Cruz Project will not have a significant effect on the
environment.
- A Negative Declaration was prepared for the Oro Cruz Project
pursuant to the provisions of the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA).
- Mitigation measures were made a condition of the approval of
the project.
- A mitigation reporting or monitoring plan was adopted for the
project.
- A statement of Overriding Considerations was not adopted for
the project.
- Findings were made pursuant to the provisions of CEQA.
The Plan is designed in accordance with performance standards in
43 CFR 3809.420 and other Federal and state laws related to
environmental protection and protection of cultural resources and
to attain the stated level of protection and reclamation required
by specific laws in the California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA).
The BLM's Decision Record and signed Finding of No Significant
Impact (FONSI), the Environmental Assessment/Mitigated Negative
Declaration and other associated documents were posted for public
review on September 1, 2023, online
at the BLM NEPA Register. The 2,895 pages of documentation
supporting the Proposed Action and the Reclamation Plan are
available at: Imperial County Planning and Development Services
website and the Imperial County Notice of Determination is at:
ICPC - Reclamation Plan #21-0001 Notice of Determination. Although
Oro Cruz Project approvals have now been received from both the BLM
and Imperial County, these are
being appealed by parties opposing mining in Imperial County. The outcome of these appeals
is yet to be determined.
Southern Empire's ongoing environmental and permitting efforts
are coordinated by Del Fortner Consulting of Tucson, Arizona. Our broader environmental
assessment and permitting team includes:
- Sespe Consulting, Inc., specialists on SMARA and CEQA baseline
environmental analysis, permitting and reclamation plan
requirements, that assist in document preparation for the CEQA
analysis.
- Stantec Consulting Services Inc., an international firm that
liaises directly with both the BLM and the ICPD to prepare
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documentation for
the BLM and coordinate the CEQA environmental review process with
the ICPD.
- WestLand Resources, Inc., specialists in environmental
engineering, permitting and planning, have completed the Oro Cruz
Project baseline environmental and cultural studies and have
provided services necessary to comply with both the NEPA and CEQA
permitting requirements.
Qualified Person (QP)
The scientific and technical information contained in this news
release has been prepared, reviewed and approved by
David Tupper, P.Geo. (British
Columbia), Southern Empire's VP Exploration and a Qualified
Person within the context of Canadian Securities Administrators'
National Instrument 43-101; Standards of Disclosure for Mineral
Projects (NI 43-101).
About Southern Empire Resources Corp.
Southern Empire is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and
development of metals and minerals deposits in the American
southwest and northern México and is particularly focused on
those that are naturally oxidized and amenable to lower-cost metal
extraction methodologies such as heap leaching. To achieve its
goals, Southern Empire has assembled a board of directors, all
veterans in mine and corporate finance, exploration, permitting,
development, and operations that will guide the future growth of
the company.
In the Cargo Muchacho mountains of Imperial County, California, Southern Empire's
wholly owned Oro Cruz Project has the potential to re-establish
gold production from an oxide gold deposit located approximately
22.5 kilometres (14 miles) southeast of the operating Mesquite gold
mine of Equinox Gold Corp., which has now produced more than five
million ounces. At Oro Cruz, extensive historical drilling
and large-scale open-pit and underground mining of the American
Girl, Padre y Madre, Queen and Cross oxide gold deposits by the
American Girl Mining Joint Venture (AGMJV; being MK Gold Company
and Hecla Mining Company) occurred between 1987 and 1996. During
that time, gold was recovered by heap leaching of lower-grade ores
and milling of higher-grade ores. Following significant definition
drilling and underground development, the Cross open-pit and
underground mines operated successfully for only one year,
producing about 61,000 ounces of gold, until AGMJV operations
ceased in late 1996 as collapsing gold prices caused their entire
operations to be shuttered and decommissioned. This left the Oro
Cruz property with many gold exploration targets in addition to the
Cross oxide gold deposit having a historical inferred resource
estimate, as reported in 2011 by Lincoln Mining Corp., totalling
341,800 ounces gold based on 4,386,000 tonnes averaging 2.2 grams
gold per tonne at a cut-off grade of 0.68 g/t Au (4,835,000 tons at
0.07 ounce gold per ton; please refer to the Cautionary Notice
Regarding the Oro Cruz Property Historical Resource Estimate
below). Although no surface facilities remain, the underground
infrastructure at Oro Cruz (including a 2.4 kilometre haulage ramp,
sublevels and draw points) remains in excellent condition and the
open pit was abandoned just after stripping was completed prior to
the start of its Stage II expansion.
Southern Empire has received a Decision Record and Finding of No
Significant Impact regarding federal BLM permitting of the Oro
Cruz Project and a Notice of Determination regarding the Oro Cruz
Project Reclamation Plan from Imperial
County, the lead State of
California agency responsible for permitting. Southern
Empire continues to finalize ancillary Oro Cruz Project state and
county permitting that will allow for up to 65 exploration,
confirmation and metallurgical drill hole sites at Oro Cruz to
support a new resource estimate, and to also test the potential of
waste rock and decommissioned heap leach piles to yield residual
gold production.
In northern México (Sonora, Chihuahua, and Durango), Southern
Empire has a leachable copper prospect and three gold projects
having bulk-tonnage potential. Our Mexican projects are the:
- Suaqui Verde Copper Project, Suaqui
Grande, Sonora;
- Centauro Gold Project, Escalón, Chihuahua;
- Pedro Gold Project, Mapimí, Durango; and,
- La Loma Gold Project, Nazas,
Durango;
The three gold projects are located along what Southern Empire
is calling the Mapimí Gold Corridor, a 150-kilometre,
southeast-trending Oligocene tectonostratigraphic belt, the
regional geological setting of which, together with numerous
coincident geological, mineralogical and geochemical
characteristics as observed at Centauro, Pedro and La Loma, strongly supports the proposition
that the Mapimí Gold Corridor has significant potential to host
bulk-mineable, low sulfidation epithermal and/or Carlin-style gold
deposits.
For more information on Southern Empire, its people and its
projects, please visit our website: www.smp.gold.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Southern Empire
Resources Corp.,
Dale
Wallster, CEO and Director
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation
Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the
Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of
this release.
Cautionary Notice on Forward-Looking Information and
Forward-Looking Statements
Information provided in this news release may contain
forward-looking information or forward-looking statements that are
based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. Such
information or statements reflect management's current estimates,
beliefs, intentions and expectations and are not guarantees of
future performance. Southern Empire cautions that all
forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual
performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many
of which are beyond its respective control. Such factors include,
among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to Southern
Empire's limited operating history, the need to comply with
environmental and governmental regulations, results of exploration
programs on its projects and those risks and uncertainties
identified in its annual and interim financial statements and
management discussion and analysis. Accordingly, actual and future
events, conditions and results may differ materially from the
estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or
implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required
under applicable securities legislation, Southern Empire undertakes
no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking
information.
Cautionary Notice Regarding the Oro Cruz Project
Historical Resource Estimate
The historical mineral resource estimate outlined above is
disclosed in a technical report dated April
29, 2011, prepared for Lincoln Mining Corp. by Tetra Tech,
Inc. and filed on the Canadian Securities Administrators' System
for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR+). It is
termed an inferred mineral resource, which is a category set out in
NI 43-101 and was based on historical reverse circulation and core
drill hole sample, underground channel sample, and blasthole sample
assay results and calculated using ordinary kriging to estimate
gold grades in 10-foot-by-10-foot-by-five-foot blocks. Accordingly,
Southern Empire considers this historical estimate reliable as well
as relevant as it presents key targets for future exploration work.
However, a QP has not done sufficient work to verify or classify
the historical estimate as a current mineral resource and Southern
Empire is not treating this historical mineral resource estimate as
current mineral resources.
SOURCE Southern Empire Resources Corp.