Paramount Gold looks to restart Sleeper gold mine in Nevada

Paramount Gold Nevada has announced that, based on strong gold prices, it is looking to restart its historic Sleeper mine in Nevada. The operation generated 1.7 million gold ounces between 1986 and 1996 from high-grade material. The 155-sq.-km property in Humboldt County includes a measured and indicated resource of 297 million tonnes grading 0.33 g/t gold and 3 g/t silver for a total of 3.1 million gold oz. and 28.9 million oz. of silver.

“Gold at current levels makes Sleeper a much more valuable asset. Located in one of the world’s best mining jurisdictions, with excellent infrastructure and access, as well as a sizable unexplored land package, we expect Sleeper to become an increasingly important part of the Paramount story moving forward,” Paramount CEO Rachel Goldman said in a release.

As part of the Sleeper development program, Paramount has contracted Mine Development Associates to review the available data for the property. The objectives of this consulting program include identifying prospective drill targets around and within Sleeper, producing a scoping-level study comparing processing and throughput alternatives, and defining the parameters for a downstream study.

Drilling of priority targets is expected to start in the first half of next year.

“Our team has always been confident that the original Sleeper vein was not a unique occurrence. We look forward to the prospect of discovering a new ‘Sleeper type’ deposit and applying our extensive database and our understanding of the local geology to a bigger land package. We have acquired additional claims over the past years which have the right setting for range-and-basin deposits like the original Sleeper,” added Paramount president and COO Glen Van Treek.

Paramount holds a 100% interest in Sleeper. A 2017 PEA for this project outlined a 30,000 t/d heap-leach open pit operation producing an average of 92,400 oz. of gold and 91,800 oz. of silver annually. The company’s additional asset is the Grassy Mountain gold project in Oregon, where a September feasibility study outlined an 8-year underground mining operation.

For more information, visit www.ParamountNevada.com.