7 September 2022
VANCOUVER –Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. (“Sabina”) or (the “Company”) (SBB – TSX/ SGSVF - OTCQX) provides an update on advancements of the Goose Mine development at the Company’s 100% owned Back River Gold District in Nunavut, Canada. The Goose Mine is the Company’s first mine on the 80 km long Back River Gold District, a multi-generational mining district already with a high-grade world class gold endowment.
Over the past few years, Sabina has been steadily advancing logistics, civil works, engineering and procurement. All pre-development activities are now completed and we are ready for full construction to commence in 2023. All major equipment and materials required for construction have been either procured, marshalled at our east and west transportation hubs, have been delivered or are in transit to the Port Facility in Bathurst Inlet, Nunavut. In addition, the underground ramp has been progressed to our first ore access sublevel and will be sufficiently completed to enable underground drilling of the V2 zone in the 4th quarter of this year. With financing in hand and these significant activities completed, the Board of Directors of the Company has made a formal construction decision for the Goose Mine.
“This is a milestone decision for the Company,” said Bruce McLeod, President & CEO “We are excited to formally commit to becoming a significant Canadian gold producer. In the meantime, we have been steadily advancing the project to be in a position to commence full construction in early 2023 with first production expected in Q1, 2025. Our recruitment efforts continue to be successful with considerable additions to the roster (from 30 personnel in March to 142 to-date and still adding), including many key positions.”
“Additionally, we are fortunate that our strategy of pre-planning and accelerating procurement efforts has reduced our exposure to inflationary impacts and supply chain issues, and we are sufficiently funded for construction. This is an exciting time for the Company as we move to develop what we believe will be the first mine on this prolific gold district.” He said.
After the Company arranged over ~C$800 million of project financing package earlier this year, significant procurement, engineering and civil work has been completed at both the Goose site and the Port facility.
Of the C$610 million CAPEX estimated, approximately C$218 million was identified as direct equipment and materials purchases. Sabina has procured, or has committed agreements to procure, just over 75% of these identified purchases. Reconciliation on purchases have seen an average overall inflationary escalation of 14% since March of 2021, with a 20% escalation on the purchases made in 2022. The Company continues to monitor, with a strategy of pre-planning and accelerating procurement efforts to reduce exposure to inflationary impacts. Efforts now focus on securing the remaining 25% of materials required.
All major items for construction have been procured.
Items include:
There is approximately C$62 million of remaining items to be procured. Financing is in hand for these items which include:
Considerable pre-development activities have already been completed at the Goose and Port sites.
At the Port Facility an additional 25,000m2 of laydown area for equipment and supply storage has been completed.
To reduce the length of the Winter Ice Road (“WIR”) route and improve alignment, an additional 1.9 km of permanent road was constructed to better align and improve traffic flow through the port site.
See the full release for complete text with several photos.