SSR seeks production pathway for Seabee gold mine

SSR Mining Inc. [SSRM-TSX, NASDAQ, SSR-ASX] is set to expand its exploration program around the Seabee gold mine in Saskatchewan next year.  The aim is to find a longer-term production pathway for Saskatchewan’s only producing gold mine. The announcement comes after the company released drill results from a number of targets that it said illustrate the significant brownfield growth potential for Seabee and could potentially represent future production opportunities for the mine.

In a press release that came after the close of trading on December 12, 2022, SSR released results from 377 diamond drill holes completed on the Seabee property for the September, 2021, to November 2022, exploration period.

The company said these results build upon and are subsequent a technical report summary (TRS) which highlighted a six-year mineral reserve life averaging approximately 96,000 ounces of annual gold production. The life of mine plan in the 2021 TRS was based on 580,000 ounces of proven and probable reserves.

Activity during the exploration period included both near-mine resource development drilling adjacent to current underground infrastructure at the Santoy mine complex as well as more regional activity across the Seabee property. Notably, the regional activity included drilling at the Porky Main, and Porky West targets with results to date returning broad intercepts of near-surface mineralization potentially amenable to open pit mining in the future.

The Porky Main and Porky West targets are located approximately 4.0 kilometres northwest of the Seabee processing facility. Drilling highlights include hole PKY-22-028, which returned 1.9 g/t gold over 31.3 metres from 51 metres, and PKY-22-005, which returned 5.5 g/t gold over 9.3 metres from 83 metres.

The Porky West target is estimated to hos 52,000 tonnes of measured and indicated resources at 5.0 g/t gold and 516,000 tonnes of inferred resources at 4.4 g/t gold.

The company said 279 resource development drill holes were completed at Santoy, which is the source of current production feed for the Seabee processing plant and contributes the entirety of the existing Seabee mineral reserves.

Stepout drilling highlights from Santoy include SUG-22-605, which returned 28.9 g/t over 2.1 metres from 217 metres.

On December 12, 2022, SSR Mining shares closed at $20.58 and currently trade in a 52-week range of $31 and $17.01.

SSR is an intermediate gold miner with four producing mines located in the U.S, Turkey, Canada and Argentina.

In 2021, those operations produced approximately 794,000 gold equivalent ounces.

In the first six months of 2022, SSR produced a total of 333,201 ounces of gold (globally) at an all-in-sustaining cost of US$1,177 per ounce. Seabee produced 38,341 ounces of gold in the second quarter of 2022 at an all-in-sustaining cost of US$628 an ounce, marking a production record for the operation.

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