Three distinct deposit types are present at the Independence Property, a shallow near surface epithermal system, a deeper high gold rich skarn system and an intrusive hosted stock work gold-copper porphyry system.

Surface “Chert Hosted” Mineralization
The mineralized body broadly strikes N-S and dips 55° – 65° to the west overall, with a very shallow 3 to 5° southerly rake. Along the main mineralized zone, high grade ore chutes are developed at intersections with NW to E-NE trending cross faults and favorable lithology. These intersections historically have yielded ore grades to 1 opt gold and 39.4 opt silver with local bonanza grade to 63 ounce of gold per ton and 19,800 ounces of silver per ton. Several of these types of ore chutes were discovered by past operators and mined from the underground workings present on the property. One such rich ore chute was the Bonner-Cole, mined from 1954 to 1958 that produced 2,796 ounces of gold and 110,294 ounces of silver at average grades of 1.0 opt Au and 39.4 opt Ag, respectively.

Gold and silver mineralization in the Independence Shallow, chert hosted mineralization corresponds largely with elevated levels of the pathfinder elements arsenic, antimony and locally bismuth. Elevated levels of certain Rare Earth Elements (REE’s) is indicated in the foot wall of the deposit and is of uncertain correlation pending additional work and better understanding of the relationship with mineralization if any. The mineralization consists of soft friable gossanous oxides and colloidal clays derived from extensive primary sulfide stock works and replacements of the brecciated chert units. These primary sulfide deposits have subsequently been deeply and thoroughly oxidized to form the present day deposit.

Deep Skarn Mineralization
The skarn mineralization consisting of various dark and light calc-silicate mineral assemblages is well developed and exhibits extensive retrograde skarn alteration throughout.

Gold mineralization is wide spread within the skarn altered zone and is controlled primarily by the apparent intensity of the late stage fracturing event. Significant gold mineralization in the skarn has been encountered in drill holes over an area more than 1,400 feet (425 meters) wide and 3,400 feet (1,035 meters) long which occurs as a sub horizontal blanket which is locally modified by post mineral faulting. The majority of the skarn hosted target is roughly 2,800 to 2,900 feet (850 to 880 meters) beneath the surface, except along the eastern margin of the property where apparent faulting displaces the receptive horizon to within roughly 2,600 feet (790 meters) of the surface.

The highest grade gold mineralization occurs in receptive sand and carbonate filled channels cut in the fluvial Battle Conglomerate by the constantly meandering streams which deposited the Battle Conglomerate.

The relative age of faulting and mineralization are uncertain at this time, but it is thought that movement is likely pre-mineral and the fault structure may in fact be a mineral conduit and therefore mineralized both above and below the Antler Sequence. This is evidenced by a relatively greater thickness and grade of mineralization in drill holes in down dropped blocks relative to the up thrown blocks.

Gold-Copper Porphyry Mineralization
The Independence Stock and a large related north dipping sill represent a potential significant goldcopper porphyry target. Historic drill hole results in Battle Mountain Gold drill hole number BMG 3975 returned 27 meters (90 feet) with an average grade of 0.55 g/t (0.016 opt) Au. Exposures in the adjacent Sunshine Pit, mined by Battle Mountain Gold Corp. in 1996 confirm the presence of goldcopper porphyry style mineralization associated with strong potassic alteration in and along the northern margin of the Independence Stock.

The Independence Project contains two mining areas: the South Pit and the North Pit. The two pits will be mined simultaneously with mining beginning in the South Pit. The Independence Project is based on standard open-pit mining methods, with drill and blast rock breakage, and truck and loader materials handling all performed by a mining contractor.

Open Pit Mine Design
Open pit design parameters used in the design of the two pits. Road designs have been completed to allow primary access for people, equipment, and consumables to the site. This includes haul roads between the designed pits, dumps, and proposed leach facility. Within the pit designs, ramps have been established for haul truck and equipment access. The initial pit access roads for the top benches will eventually be mined out and only the final ramps to the bottom of the pits will remain. The in-pit ramps will only require a single berm. Ramps outside of the pit will require two safety berms. One-lane traffic ramps are also utilized near the bottom of the two pits where the strip ratio is minimal, and the traffic requirements are low.

The resulting pit optimizations were used as the basis for mineable pit designs. The designs used an inner-ramp slope of 49° and a bench face angle of 63o. Both the South pit and North pit mine schedules utilize single phase top down mining while being mined concurrently.

Leach Pad and Waste Dump Design
Waste dump and leach pad designs were created to contain the waste and heap-leach material mined. A 32% swell factor and 3% in-situ moisture was assumed for the waste material which provides for both swell when mined and compaction when placed into the dump facility. The total volume requirements for containment of waste with a specific gravity of 1.892 and crushed leach material with a specific gravity of 1.666 is 17.4 million cubic meters for waste material and 12.0 million cubic meters for leach material.

Both the waste dumps and Leach heap were designed with angle of repose of 35.5o and ultimate reclaimed slopes of 21.8o (2.5H to 1V).

The two waste dumps (West and South dumps) have a combined capacity of 17.6 million cubic meters. The leach pad has a capacity of 13.1 million cubic meters.

Mine Production Schedule
The production schedule considers the processing of Independence ore material by 2-stage crushing and heap leaching.

Half-year periods were used to create the production schedule with a 6 month pre-production period. Mining is to begin in the South Pit. Start of leach processing is in the beginning of year 1, though a total of 547,600 tonnes of leach material is to be mined during pre-production. It is assumed that this material will be crushed and used as over liner on top of the leach pad liner. The maximum rate for leach processing will be 9,000 tonnes per day or 3,285,000 tonnes per year. Note that during the first year, a total of 2,737,200 tonnes will be processed along with the stockpiled material mined during preproduction. This represents a ramp up to full processing.

Leaching starts with material from the higher grade South Pit and in year 2 material from the North Pit will begin to be leached concurrently with the South Pit material. The daily mining rate will ramp up from an average of 12,700 tonnes per day during the pre-production mining period to a maximum of 29,500 tonnes per day in year 2.

ROM material will be transported from the mine in 90-tonne surface haul trucks and dumped in the dump hopper or stockpiled in a ROM stockpile. Stockpiled material will be reclaimed by a front-end loader and fed to the dump hopper as needed. Oversized rocks or large lumps will be broken using a rock breaker.

Material will be fed from the ROM dump hopper to a vibrating grizzly feeder via an apron feeder. The grizzly oversize will be fed to the jaw crusher and the grizzly undersize will be recombined with the jaw crusher product on the primary crusher discharge conveyor. The primary crusher discharge conveyor transfers the material to the primary stockpile, where it will be reclaimed by two belt feeders and fed to the secondary crusher feed bin by the secondary crushing feed conveyor. A tramp metal electromagnet and metal detector will be installed on the secondary crushing feed conveyor to protect the secondary crusher.

Material from the secondary feed bin will be fed to the double deck vibrating secondary screen by a belt feeder with oversize material being fed to the secondary cone crusher and undersize being fed onto the crushed product conveyor. The secondary screen undersize and secondary crusher product will both report to secondary crushing product conveyor, the size will be 100% passing 57 mm or p80 around 38 mm. Lime for pH control will be added to the secondary crushing product conveyor at an average rate of 2, 3, or 4 kg per tonne of material depending on oxidation category oxide, transitional, or sulfide, respectively. Lime will be fed from one 100-tonne silo equipped with a bin activator, variable speed screw feeder, and dust collector.

The heap will be constructed in 9.0m-high lifts, using a mobile conveyor stacking system. The heap stacking system consists of mobile field conveyors (grasshoppers) that transfer the material to the conveyor stacking system, which includes an index feed, horizontal index, and radial stacker conveyors.

The mobile grasshopper conveyor chain transfers material from the overland conveyor to the index feed conveyor which feeds the horizontal index conveyor which feeds the radial stacker. The horizontal index and radial stacker are able to advance and stack material onto the heap. The number of grasshopper conveyors required varies depending on the area of the heap being stacked.

Once a lift of cells has finished leaching and is sufficiently drained and dry, a new lift can be stacked over the top of the old lift. The old lift will be cross-ripped prior to stacking new material on top of any old heap area or access road/ramp to break up any compacted or cemented sections.

The overall process includes crushing, stacking, heap leaching and gold and silver recovery in a Merrill Crowe plant to produce gold/silver dorè bars.

The plant will process the material using a two-stage crushing circuit to produce a final product of 100% passing 57mm. The crushed material will be conveyor stacked to leach pad for cyanide leaching. The pregnant solution will be collected in a pond and then pumped to the Merrill Crowe plant to precipitate gold and silver, and the precipitated gold and silver will be smelted to produce the final product dorè.

The crushed ore would be stacked in lifts averaging 9 m high to a maximum of 81 m at a nominal rate of 9,000 mtpd. The leach pad would be constructed in two-phases. The total pad would have an area of approximately 386,800 m2 with a capacity to hold 21.9 million tonnes of mineralized material.

The bulk density of active lift is estimated at 1.66 metric tonnes per cubic meter. The lift height is 9 m ........