Excelsior Fully Integrates Johnson Camp Production Facility

VANCOUVER, BC – Excelsior Mining Corp. reported that the Johnson Camp Mine ("JCM") has been fully integrated into the Company and will provide the initial copper production facilities for the Gunnison Copper Project, expected to start in 2018. 

As per the December 15, 2015, JCM was acquired through a court-appointed receiver for Nord Resources Corporation ("Nord"). The copper production facilities at JCM include a 4500 gallon per minute solvent extraction plant, tank farm, solution storage ponds, and an electrowinning plant with capacity of 25 million pounds of copper cathode per annum. Excelsior intends to flow the initial production solutions from the Gunnison Copper Project through these facilities. JCM was put on care and maintenance prior to the acquisition. Since the acquisition, Excelsior has continued to run fluids through the system in order to ensure that the production facility remains in good working order in anticipation of the commencement of in-situ recovery operations, scheduled for early 2018.

Since acquiring JCM, considerable work has been accomplished in bringing the property into full regulatory compliance as well as providing man power and funding for general site cleanup. The combination of a dry climate, limited production, and an effective care and maintenance program has left the current facilities in excellent condition, with many of the facility components resembling almost new structures. 

The current capacity at JCM is 25 million pounds of copper cathode per annum; however, management believes that the ability to expand the plant to 40 million pounds per annum is achievable, and could be accomplished for very limited capital. The feasibility study for the Gunnison Copper Project, which is scheduled for completion before year-end, will investigate opportunities for plant expansion at JCM. Initial production at JCM would be augmented through the construction of new production facilities at the neighboring Gunnison tenements, eventually forecasted to result in total copper production of 125 million pounds per annum by year seven.

In addition to the processing facilities, significant quantities of conventional mine processing equipment were acquired as part of the acquisition. To date, Excelsior has sold $300,000 worth of grasshopper conveyors. The Company will continue to pursue opportunities to divest itself of non-core assets that are not essential to the in-situ mining process.