The Mt. Hamilton gold project is located in White Pine County, Nevada, U.S.A. and is held by Mt. Hamilton LLC (“MH-LLC”) which is 80% owned by Solitario Exploration & Royalty Corp. (NYSE MKT:XPL; TSX:SLR) and 20% owned by Ely Gold & Minerals Inc. (TSX-V:ELY). Solitario released a feasibility study in February 2012 showing favourable economics for an open pit operation with heap leach extraction. Once in operation, the mine is expected to produce 48,000 ounces of gold and 330,000 ounces of silver per year over an 8 year period, with excellent potential to add additional resources and extend the mine life.
Mt. Hamilton Royalty
Sandstorm has a 2.4% net smelter returns royalty (“NSR”) on the Mt. Hamilton gold project. Sandstorm made an upfront payment of US$10 million to MH-LLC (US$4 million will be paid on January 15, 2013) to acquire the royalty in June 2012.
If MH-LLC enters into a gold stream agreement with Sandstorm that has an upfront deposit of no less than US$30 million, MH-LLC will have the option, for a period of 30 months, to repurchase up to 100% of the NSR for US$12 million. In addition, MH-LLC has provided Sandstorm with a right of first refusal on any future royalty or gold stream financing for the Mt. Hamilton project.
Reserves and Resources+
| Gold Grade | Silver Grade | ||||||
| Classification |
tons (millions) |
oz/ton | g/tonne | oz/ton | g/tonne |
Contained Au (oz) |
Contained Ag (oz) |
| Proven | 0.923 | 0.032 | 1.10 | 0.155 | 5.31 | 29,300 | 142,700 |
| Probable | 21.604 | 0.021 | 0.72 | 0.134 | 4.59 | 457,800 | 2,884,300 |
| Proven & Probable | 22.527 | 0.022 | 0.75 | 0.136 | 4.66 | 487,100 | 3,028,200 |
* As at September 10, 2012
Reported silver grade is cyanide soluble.
| Classification |
tons (000's) |
Gold Grade (oz/t) |
Contained Gold (oz) |
Silver Grade (oz/t) |
Contained Silver (oz) |
| Measured | 918 | 0.032 | 29,524 | 0.155 | 142,152 |
| Indicated | 22,732 | 0.022 | 497,330 | 0.132 | 3,010,471 |
| Measured & Indicated | 23,650 | 0.022 | 526,854 | 0.133 | 3,152,624 |
| Inferred | 3,454 | 0.018 | 60,859 | 0.079 | 273,457 |
* As at September 10, 2012
Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
