HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Sept. 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Erdene Resource Development Corp. (TSX:ERD) ("Erdene" or "Company"), is pleased to announce the Mineral Resource estimate for its 100%-owned Khundii Gold Project in southwest Mongolia, prepared by RPMGlobal in accordance with the definition standards of National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”).

The Khundii Gold Project includes the Company’s high-grade Bayan Khundii and Altan Nar deposits, located 16 kilometres apart. Today’s announcement includes the Maiden Mineral Resource estimate for the Bayan Khundii deposit and incorporates the significant increase in the NI 43-101 Mineral Resource for the Altan Nar deposit reported by the Company in May 2018. These deposits are shallow and high-grade, outcropping and located within the newly discovered Khundii Gold District.

Highlights (see attached figures for reference)

• Khundii Gold project total Mineral Resource:

751,000 ounces gold at an average grade of 2.3 g/t gold, Measured and Indicated; and,
291,000 ounces gold at an average grade of 1.8 g/t gold, Inferred.
• At a higher cut-off grade of 1.4 g/t gold, the Khundii Gold Project contains:

642,000 ounces gold at an average grade of 3.7 g/t gold, Measured and Indicated, including, 357,000 ounces gold at an average grade of 5.2 g/t gold at the Bayan Khundii deposit. 
• Including precious and base metals, the Khundii Gold Project includes:

886,000 ounces gold equivalent (“AuEq”) at an average grade of 2.7 g/t AuEq, Measured and Indicated; and
382,000 ounces AuEq at an average grade of 2.3 g/t AuEq, Inferred. 
• Work has commenced on the Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Khundii Gold Project, expected to be announced in Q4-2018

“With the results of the maiden Bayan Khundii resource estimate, we have met our initial resource target for the Khundii Gold Project at grades significantly higher than the global average of producing open pit gold mines,” said Peter Akerley, Erdene’s President and CEO. “The Bayan Khundii and Altan Nar deposits provide synergies for our Company and represent a compelling development opportunity given their high-grades, proximity to surface and favorable metallurgy. We will incorporate these two resource estimates into a Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Khundii Gold Project by year-end and expect to submit mining license applications for both deposits in early 2019. At the same time, we continue our regional exploration program with drilling currently underway testing multiple targets, designed to expand current resources and discover new deposits in this newly discovered gold district.”

A supporting NI 43-101 Technical Report will be filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com within 45 days of this release.

Overview of Mineral Resource Estimate

Bayan Khundii is located 16 kilometres southeast of Erdene’s Altan Nar high-grade gold-polymetallic deposit, where the Company announced a significant increase to the mineral resource on May 10, 2018 (click to read news release). The two resource estimates are considered a single project (Khundii Gold Project) for future economic and technical development studies, and are discussed herein as the Khundii Gold Project Mineral Resource estimate (Table 1).

The Bayan Khundii Maiden Mineral Resource estimate (“Mineral Resource”) was prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 by RPMGlobal Asia Limited (“RPM”) and is dated effective September 12, 2018. The reported Mineral Resource (Table 2) is based on information provided to RPM by Erdene and verified where possible by RPM. All statistical analysis and mineral resource estimations were carried out by RPM. A final NI 43-101 Mineral Resource estimate and Technical Report will be filed on SEDAR within 45 days. The Mineral Resource incorporates 255 diamond drill holes totaling 42,656 metres, completed between Q4-2015 and Q2-2018. The Mineral Resource is contained within a near-surface, shallow-dipping and strongly mineralized system (intercepts up to 2,200 g/t gold as previously reported) that extends over an area of 1.2 kilometres (NE-SW) and 200 to 400 metres (NW-SE). Grade capping for the purposes of the Bayan Khundii deposit resource estimate averaged 51 g/t gold for high-grade domains (range from 8 g/t to 250 g/t gold) and a maximum of 1.5 g/t gold for the low and medium grade domains.

Published Date:2018-09-19