Crown Mining Reports on Sampling at Engels

April 16, 2019 7:00 AM EDT | Source: US Copper Corp.

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 16, 2019) - Crown Mining Corp., (TSXV: CWM) ("Crown" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update of its ongoing evaluation of the Engels Mine area, which is part of the Moonlight-Superior Project in the Lights Creek Copper District located in Plumas Co., northern California.

During a recent compilation of historical documents, a 1966 resource calculation by Placer AMEX was found that identified a near surface geologic resource of approximately 20 million tons grading 0.65% Cu adjacent to the historic underground Engels 'mine workings. While not enough qualified work has been done on this estimate to classify it as a current mineral resource, it does suggest the potential for developing a previously unrecognized area of mineralization into a viable resource.

Additionally, other reports and maps have identified a large area lying east of the historic mine, containing at least 15 outcrop or prospect pit showings of copper mineralization. Assay results from 44 samples collected from these showings ranged from 0.3% to 13.3% Cu with elevated silver and gold credits. Additional work, including drilling, will be necessary to determine the significance of these showings.

In response to these positive developments, Crown staked an additional 35 federal mining claims covering this newly recognized area of potential as reported in the news release of February 6, 2019. A drill program to evaluate this new target area is now being prepared.

In 2012 Crown acquired the patented and unpatented mining claims in the eastern portion of the Lights Creek District, including the Engels and Superior Mines. In 2016 Crown consolidated ownership of the District through the acquisition of the unpatented mining claims in the western half of the District, including the large, low-grade, disseminated, intrusive hosted, undeveloped Moonlight Deposit, discovered in 1966 by Placer AMEX. Crown's initial focus was on the Moonlight Deposit where a Preliminary Economic Assessment Study ("PEA") study was commissioned, completed and released in April 2018.

Since the completion of the Moonlight PEA, Crown has focused on ways to improve the economics of the project through identifying potential higher-grade targets like the historical resource at Engels, the oxide potential at Moonlight (see news release of February 26, 2019) and the definition of a gold resource at Superior.

About Crown Mining Corp.

Crown controls approximately 12 square miles of patented and unpatented federal mining claims in the Light's Creek Copper District in Plumas County, NE California; essentially, the entire District. The District contains substantial copper (silver) sulfide and copper oxide resources in three deposits - Moonlight, Superior and Engels, as well as several partially tested and untested exploration targets.

The Superior and Engels Mines produced over 161 million pounds of copper from 4.7 million tons of ore containing 2.2% copper with silver and gold credits from underground operations between 1915-1930.

The Moonlight PEA, prepared by Tetra Tech Inc., had the following highlights:

  • After-tax NPV of US$179M at an 8% discount rate and a $3.15 copper price.
  • After tax IRR of 14.6%
  • Initial Capital Cost: US$513M, including a contingency provision in the amount of US$71M
  • Plant Processing Rate: 60,000 tons per day (STPD)
  • Average Copper Recovery: 86.0%
  • Mine Life: 17 years, based on the existing Mineral Resource estimate
  • Life of mine copper production of 1.5 billion pounds

The Moonlight deposit hosts a current National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") indicated resource of approximately 170 million tons (154 million tonnes) averaging 0.29% copper, and an inferred resource of 68 million tons (62 million tonnes) averaging 0.29% copper.

The Superior deposit is not included in the Moonlight PEA and it hosts a current NI 43-101 inferred mineral resource of 57 million metric tonnes at an average copper grade of 0.41%.

Please note the PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. Furthermore, there is no certainty that the preliminary economic assessment will be realized. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Readers are encouraged to read the technical report.

Further details of the PEA and the resources on Crown's property and the parameters used to calculate them can be found in the "Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Moonlight Deposit, Moonlight-Superior Copper Project, California, USA" dated April 12, 2018 on both the company's website at www.crownminingcorp.com or on www.sedar.com under the Crown Mining Corp profile.

Mr. George Cole is the Qualified Person pursuant to NI 43-101 responsible for the technical information contained in this news release, and he has reviewed and approved this news release.

For more information please see the Crown website at www.crownminingcorp.com.

For Further Information Contact:

Mr. Stephen Dunn, President, CEO and Director, Crown Mining Corporation (416) 361-2827 or email info@crownminingcorp.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws and regulations, including statements regarding the future activities of the Company. Forward-looking statements reflect the current beliefs and expectations of management and are identified by the use of words including "will", "anticipates", "expected to", "plans", "planned" and other similar words. Actual results may differ significantly. The achievement of the results expressed in forward-looking statements is subject to a number of risks, including those described in the Company's management discussion and analysis as filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities which are available at www.sedar.com. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon forward-looking statements.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy the securities in any jurisdiction. The common shares will not be and have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or applicable exemption from the registration requirements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44100

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