KELLOGG, Idaho, Dec. 7, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- New Jersey Mining Company (NJMC:OTCBB) is pleased to report progress with the New Jersey Mill expansion project. In January 2011 a joint venture was announced with United Silver Corp. (USC) to expand and operate the New Jersey Mill. USC was to pay all the expansion costs (now estimated to be $2.5 million) of increasing the processing rate from 4 metric tonnes per hour to 15, or about 10,000 metric tonnes per month (mtpm). USC will have a right to 7,000 mtpm and NJMC will have a right to 3,000 mtpm of capacity. NJMC will own 66% of the joint venture and will be the Operator and receive a management fee.
The expansion project is about 76% completed on a cost basis. All major equipment has been procured and is on site, including a new 2.4 m diam. by 4.0 m long ball mill, a new cone crusher and a new paste thickener. A new 400 tonne fine ore bin has been fabricated and erected. An 80 ft by 150 ft steel building has been erected over the old mill buildings.
Work remaining includes closing up the building, final assembly of the ball mill, conveyor installation, additions to the flotation circuit, process piping and instrumentation, and electrical wiring. It is expected that commissioning will commence in the first quarter of 2012, processing about 3,500 tonnes of stockpiled ore from USC's Crescent mine.
The expansion project is on schedule according to the January 2011 announcement and costs are near original budget expectations.
Fred Brackebusch, Company President, commented, "The New Jersey Mill Joint Venture will be beneficial to both NJMC and USC by reducing operating and capital costs for processing ores from both companies. It is expected that the new expanded plant will process ores at higher than designed rates, based on mill tests and laboratory tests performed early in 2011."
About New Jersey Mining Company:
New Jersey Mining Company is involved in exploring for and developing gold, silver and base metal resources in the Coeur d'Alene Mining District of northern Idaho. New Jersey Mining Company has a portfolio of mineral properties in the Coeur d'Alene Mining District including the New Jersey Mine which includes a fully-permitted flotation mill and a concentrate leach plant.
This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended that are intended to be covered by the safe harbor created by such sections. Such statements are based on good faith assumptions that New Jersey Mining Company believes are reasonable but which are subject to a wide range of uncertainties and business risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed, projected or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those anticipated are discussed in New Jersey Mining Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.