HENDERSON, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ireland Inc. (Pink: IRLD) today upgraded the results reported yesterday on the successful precious metals extraction tests completed at the Columbus Project, located in Esmeralda County, Nevada. The previous reported data contained an error resulting in lower reported results. The revised extraction results are 0.196 opt Au and 0.054 opt Pd. Yesterday’s reported extraction results were 0.18 opt gold and the 0.05 opt palladium.
The Company today also announced that is has secured interim financing from Nanominerals Corp. to fund the next phase of the on-site precious metals extraction work at the Columbus Project. The financing is in the form of a loan. Nanominerals Corp. is a private company controlled by its sole officer and director Dr. Charles A. Ager. Nanominerals is our largest shareholder and acts as a consultant to us on technical exploration and financial matters.
The new funding allows work to continue uninterrupted on site as management seeks to arrange for additional financing, from identified sources, to insure long-term sustainability of the Columbus Project. The Company’s management will continue to take steps to reduce overhead expenditures and keep operating cash requirements as low as possible as it completes the next phase of the technical program.
Technical Program Recap
Gold and palladium have now been successfully extracted from the Columbus sands using a new high-temperature smelting method. The new smelting process, on 1000-gram samples, has resulted in an average extracted grade of Au and Pd that significantly exceeds the previously identified 0.03 opt gold. The smelting and leaching tests currently underway are aimed at finishing this work in order to identify a commercially viable extraction process for the Columbus Project. While the range of precious metals smelting results to date remains inconsistent (see chart below), the conservative (log average), metal in hand, results from this series of tests have improved to 0.20 opt gold and the 0.05 opt palladium.
| Test | Au opt | Log Au | Pd opt | Log Pd | ||||||||
| 2A-1 | 4.887 | 0.861 | ||||||||||
| 2A-10 | 0.186 | 0.062 | ||||||||||
| 2A-4 | 0.110 | 0.020 | ||||||||||
| 2A-5 | 0.138 | 0.015 | ||||||||||
| 2A-2 | 0.021 | 0.027 | ||||||||||
| Average (opt) | 1.068 | 0.196 | 0.197 | 0.054 | ||||||||
Readers are cautioned that the materials sampled for the tests shown above are all from a single site within the North Sand Zone, and may not be indicative of results for the rest of the North Sand Zone or the Columbus Project as a whole. However, these alluvial sands were derived from the same source rock, have been previously drilled and assayed at ±0.03 opt gold to ±200 ft. depth and the improved grades presented herein could reasonably be expected to be widespread throughout the North Sand Zone as before. Once testing is completed by Ireland, third party chain of custody protocols will be followed to confirm final results as these protocols were not observed during this current testing program. In addition, in the past, Ireland has encountered difficulties when attempting to scale up extraction results achieved under laboratory conditions to the larger on-site pilot plant.
Conference Call
Ireland will host an investor conference to review the recently announced successful gold and palladium test results and the ongoing Columbus Project test work on Tuesday, May 29th at 1:30pm PT. Discussion will include the successful smelting tests and the status of the leach solution treatment extraction program underway.
The Participant Dial-In Number for the conference call is 1-631-891-4304. Participants should dial in to the call at least five minutes before 1:30pm PT (4:30pm ET) on May 29, 2018. The call can also be accessed “live” online at http://public.viavid.com/index.php?id=129967.
A replay of the recorded call will be available for 90 days on the Company’s website (http://irelandminerals.com/investors/). You can also listen to a replay of the call by dialing 1-844-512-2921 (international participants dial 1-412-317-6671) starting May 29, 2018, at 7:30pm ET through June 5, 2018 at 11:59 pm ET. Please use PIN Number 10004990.
About Ireland Inc.
Based in Henderson, Nevada, Ireland Inc. (www.irelandminerals.com) is a minerals exploration and development Company that targets properties containing large-scale deposits of precious metals in the southwestern United States. In early 2008, Ireland completed the acquisition of the Columbus Project located in Esmeralda County, NV, near Tonopah.
Forward-Looking Statements
This document may include statements that constitute “forward-looking” statements, usually containing the words “believe,” “estimate,” “project,” “expect,” “plans” or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, Ireland’s limited operating history, future trends in mineral prices, the availability of capital, geological or mechanical difficulties affecting Ireland’s planned geological work programs, and uncertainties surrounding estimates of mineralized material. Extraction rates and mineralization grades from test results on individual samples may not be representative of extraction rates or grades that can be obtained from other samples or from commercial scale extraction efforts. Additional exploration work will be required to fully define the extent of the Columbus Project’s mineralized areas and before proved or probable mineral reserves can be established. There is no assurance that the results of Ireland’s exploration of pre-feasibility programs will result in a decision to enter into commercial production. In addition, Ireland’s actual financial and capital requirements may be greater than projected and there is no assurance that Ireland will be able to raise sufficient financing to proceed with its exploration and development plans or finance its ongoing business activities. If Ireland is not able to raise sufficient funds to proceed with its exploration and development plants, Ireland may wind down and cease operations. Ireland undertakes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements in this document.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permits U.S. mining companies to disclose in their filings with the SEC only “reserve estimates,” which are those parts of a mineral deposit that Ireland can economically and legally extract or produce at the time the estimate is made. Ireland may use certain terms in this press release such as “measured,” “indicated,” and “inferred” “resources.” SEC guidelines strictly prohibit U.S. registered companies from including these terms in their filings with the SEC. Further, inferred resource estimates generally may not be used as the basis for pre-feasibility or feasibility studies. There are no assurances that any resource estimates can be economically or legally extracted or produced or that any of these resource estimates will ever be converted to reserves. There are also no assurances that any inferred resource estimates will be converted into indicated or measured resources. The mineralization estimates provided in this release are based on internal calculations and have not been independently confirmed.
Investors are advised to carefully review the reports and documents that Ireland Inc. files from time to time with the SEC, particularly its Annual, Quarterly and Current Reports, which may be obtained from the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.
