Seabridge, Pretium to work together on B.C. projects

2011-05-09 06:10 ET – News Release

See News Release (C-SEA) Seabridge Gold Inc

Mr. Rudi Fronk of Seabridge reports

SEABRIDGE AND PRETIUM SIGN AGREEMENTS ON COOPERATION

Seabridge Gold Inc. has executed two agreements with Pretium Resources Inc. to:

Establish the terms under which mining operations at one project can encroach on the other’s boundaries;
Explore the potential for joint development of Seabridge’s KSM project and Pretium’s Snowfield project which together represent the largest undeveloped gold resource in North America.
Mutual Access Agreement

The KSM and Snowfield projects have a common boundary and neither can be mined to its maximum extent without encroaching on the other’s land position. A Mutual Access Agreement has therefore been signed which includes provisions for, amongst other things:

— mutual access for stripping of overburden, which will provide:

— Seabridge with access to conduct stripping activities on Pretium’s
Snowfield project to extract ore from Seabridge’s KSM project, with
Pretium having the right to require Seabridge to process Snowfield
project ore accessed by Seabridge’s stripping activities on
Pretium’s Snowfield project and to receive the value of the
contained metal less a processing fee; and

— Pretium with access to conduct stripping activities on Seabridge’s
KSM project to extract ore from Pretium’s Snowfield project, with
Seabridge having the right to require Pretium to process KSM project
ore accessed by Pretium’s stripping activities on Seabridge’s KSM
project and to receive the value of the contained metal less a
processing fee; and

— Pretium access to its Snowfield and Brucejack projects over KSM project
lands.

With the Mutual Access Agreement in hand, each of Seabridge and Pretium can continue with plans to optimize the mining at each of their respective projects independently.

Mutual Cooperation and Confidentiality Agreement

A Mutual Cooperation and Confidentiality Agreement has been signed that provides for, amongst standard provisions, the preparation of an engineering study to examine the economics of combining Seabridge’s KSM project and Pretium’s Snowfield project as a single operation. The study is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year. Seabridge will have responsibility for managing the study under the direction of Jay Layman, its Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining Seabridge in March of this year, Mr. Layman was Vice President Solutions and Innovation for Newmont Mining Company where he was responsible for managing Global Technical Services.

Seabridge President and CEO Rudi Fronk noted that “our agreements with Pretium represent the kind of co-operation that is needed from the owners of two major projects which border on each other. These agreements will enable Seabridge to carry out the stripping operations on Pretium’s ground that would be required under our Preliminary Feasibility Study and examine whether overall economics can be improved if we combine the KSM and Snowfield projects.”

On May 2, 2011 Seabridge released a new Preliminary Feasibility Study which confirms that KSM is a robust stand-alone 52 year mine life project with operating and total costs per ounce well below the current average of the major gold producers (see http://www.seabridgegold.net/news.php). Mineral reserves at KSM are estimated as follows:

KSM Proven and Probable Reserves

—————————————————————————-
—————————————————————————-
Average Grades
————————————
Reserve Gold Copper Silver Molybdenum
Zone Category Tonnes (millions) (gpt) (%) (gpt) (ppm)
—————————————————————————-
—————————————————————————-
Mitchell Proven 617.9 0.64 0.17 3.06 60.2
——————————————————————
Probable 848.6 0.59 0.16 3.02 61.8
——————————————————————
Total 1,466.5 0.61 0.16 3.04 61.2
—————————————————————————-
Iron Cap Probable 334.1 0.42 0.20 5.46 48.4
—————————————————————————-
Sulphurets Probable 179.1 0.62 0.26 0.61 59.8
—————————————————————————-
Kerr Probable 212.7 0.25 0.46 1.28 Nil
—————————————————————————-
—————————————————————————-
Totals Proven 617.9 0.64 0.17 3.06 60.2
——————————————————————
Probable 1,574.5 0.51 0.22 3.03 50.4
——————————————————————
Total 2,192.4 0.55 0.21 3.04 53.2
—————————————————————————-
—————————————————————————-

—————————————————————————-
—————————————————————————-
Contained Metal
————————————
Gold Copper Silver Moly
Reserve (million (million (million (million
Zone Category Tonnes (millions) ounces) pounds) ounces) pounds)
—————————————————————————-
—————————————————————————-
Mitchell Proven 617.9 12.6 2,279 61 82
——————————————————————
Probable 848.6 16.0 3,040 82 116
——————————————————————
Total 1,466.5 28.7 5,320 143 198
—————————————————————————-
Iron Cap Probable 334.1 4.5 1,490 59 36
—————————————————————————-
Sulphurets Probable 179.1 3.6 1,021 4 24
—————————————————————————-
Kerr Probable 212.7 1.7 2,155 9 Nil
—————————————————————————-
—————————————————————————-
Totals Proven 617.9 12.6 2,279 61 82
——————————————————————
Probable 1,574.5 25.8 7,706 153 175
——————————————————————
Total 2,192.4 38.5 9,985 214 257
—————————————————————————-
—————————————————————————-

The updated KSM Preliminary Feasibility Study was prepared by Wardrop, A Tetra Tech Company, and incorporates the work of a number of industry-leading consulting firms.

Seabridge holds a 100% interest in several North American gold resource projects. The Company’s principal assets are the KSM property located near Stewart, British Columbia, Canada and the Courageous Lake gold project located in Canada’s Northwest Territories. For a breakdown of Seabridge’s mineral reserves and resources by project and category please visit the Company’s website at www.seabridgegold.net/resources.php.

We seek Safe Harbor.

May 9th, 2011
Categories: Uncategorized . Author: caliche