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Southern Empire Completes Airborne LiDAR Survey over Oro Cruz Gold Project



Southern Empire Resources
 

January 20, 2021 – TheNewswire - Southern Empire Resources Corp. (Southern Empire); (TSXV:SMP); (Frankfurt:5RE); (OTC:SMPEF) announces that it has completed an airborne LiDAR survey of its Oro Cruz Gold Project, located in Imperial County, California.

 

The airborne LiDAR survey contractor, Eagle Mapping Ltd. of Port Coquitlam, BC, acquired and classified airborne LiDAR and aerial photography data over a total area of approximately 75 square kilometers. On-ground survey support was provided by Desert Surveying & Engineering PLLC of Yuma, Arizona.  

 

About LiDAR

LiDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is an important tool that will allow Southern Empire’s geologists and engineers to map and assess both natural and manmade features at our Oro Cruz Gold Project with considerable accuracy, precision, and flexibility.

LiDAR uses pulsed, laser-generated infrared light beams to precisely measure distances and generate three-dimensional data. In combination with the new RGB photo data, Southern Empire will be able to produce very detailed digital elevation models and better maps for:

 
  • - use in structural geology studies for exploration purposes

    - accurate volumetric calculations of existing open pits, waste rock dumps and heap leach pads

    - civil engineering for placement and design of future infrastructure and processing facilities

    - identification of historical mineral exploration sites

    - archaeological studies

    - other physical and biological studies allowing for the sustainable management of the Oro Cruz property

 

Technical Aspects of the Oro Cruz Gold Project Airborne LiDAR Survey

 

For the Oro Cruz property airborne LiDAR survey, Eagle Mapping completed 14 flight lines with 60% overlap equalling 159 kilometres (km; ~99 miles) of flight lines using a Piper Navajo equipped with the dual LiDAR Waveform Processing Riegl VQ-1560 II Airborne scanning system.

 

This system, considered by many to be the most advanced LiDAR system in the world, was mounted on a Somaq GSM 4000 gyro-stabilized leveling mount and equipped with a seamlessly integrated high performance Applanix POS AV610 IMU/GNSS unit and a 150-megapixel RGB camera in the primary camera bay providing photos at an average of 12cm pixel resolution. 316 high-resolution photos were captured for the creation of orthophotos covering the Oro Cruz Gold Project.

 

At Oro Cruz, Eagle Mapping’s VQ-1560 II system captured high-resolution (>10 pulses/m2) LiDAR data at 60% overlap providing increased performance and high productivity based on a laser pulse repetition rate of up to 4 MHz, resulting in more than 2.66 million measurements per second on the ground.

 

Ground control targets established by Desert Surveying & Engineering PLLC using survey grade GPS devices assisted in the calibration of the LiDAR data set allowing for high absolute accuracy.

Qualified Person

 

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been prepared, reviewed and approved by David Tupper, P.Geo. (British Columbia), Southern Empire's VP Exploration and a Qualified Person (QP) within the context of Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101; Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101).

 

About Southern Empire Resources Corp.

 

Southern Empire is focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of gold deposits in North America.

 

In the Cargo Muchacho mountains of Imperial County, California, Southern Empire owns 100 per cent of the historical gold-producing American Girl mine property and also holds options to acquire a 100-per-cent interest in the adjacent 2,160-hectare (5,338-acre) Oro Cruz property located approximately 22.5 kilometres (14 miles) southeast of the operating Mesquite gold mine of Equinox Gold Corp.

 

At Oro Cruz, extensive historical drilling and large-scale open-pit and underground mining of the American Girl, Padre y Madre, Queen and Cross oxide gold deposits by the American Girl Mining Joint Venture (AGMJV; ultimately owned 53 per cent by MK Gold Company and 47 per cent by Hecla Mining Company) occurred between 1987 and 1996. At that time, gold was recovered by either heap leaching of lower-grade or milling of higher-grade ores until AGMJV operations ceased in late 1996 because of declining gold prices leaving the Oro Cruz Gold Project with many gold exploration targets in addition to the historical inferred resource estimate, reported In 2011 by Lincoln Mining Corp., totalling 341,800 ounces gold based on 4,386,000 tonnes averaging 2.2 grams gold per tonne at a cut-off grade of 0.68 g/t Au (4,835,000 tons at 0.07 ounce gold per ton; please refer to the Cautionary Notice Regarding Historical Resource Estimate below).

 

Southern Empire is well financed, having completed two oversubscribed, non-brokered private placement financings during 2020; see Southern Empire's news releases dated March 18 and June 12, 2020, for details. With its strong working capital position, which also includes a significant equity holding in Bullfrog Gold Corp., Southern Empire has the financial resources to continue exploration and development programs at Oro Cruz and consider new opportunities.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Southern Empire Resources Corp.,

Dale Wallster, CEO and Director

 

For further information on Southern Empire please visit both www.smp.gold and SEDAR or contact: Lubica Keighery, (778) 889-5476, lubica@smp.gold .

 

Cautionary Notice on Forward-Looking Information

 

Information provided in this news release may contain forward-looking information or forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. Such information or statements reflect management’s current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations and are not guarantees of future performance. Southern Empire cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond its respective control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to Southern Empire limited operating history, the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations, results of exploration programs on its projects and those risks and uncertainties identified in its annual and interim financial statements and management discussion and analysis.  Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Southern Empire undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

 

Cautionary Notice Regarding Historical Resource Estimate

 

The historical resource estimate outlined above is disclosed in a technical report dated April 29, 2011, prepared for Lincoln Mining Corp. by Tetra Tech, Inc. and filed on Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR). It is termed an inferred mineral resource, which is a category set out in NI 43-101. It was based on historical reverse circulation and core drill hole sample, underground channel sample, and blasthole sample assay results and calculated using ordinary kriging to estimate gold grades in 10-foot-by-10-foot-by-five-foot blocks. Accordingly, Southern Empire considers this historical estimate reliable as well as relevant as it represents key targets for future exploration work. However, a QP has not done sufficient work to verify or classify the historical estimate as a current mineral resource and Southern Empire is not treating this historical estimate as current mineral resources.

 

Work Programs During the COVID-19 Pandemic

 

Timing of Southern Empire's exploration programs will be contingent on governmental regulations regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and also the availability of exploration-related personnel, drill contractors, equipment, lodging, et cetera. Southern Empire will adhere to COVID-19 directives regarding safe working practices putting worker, community and national safety first and will proceed with exploration and development work programs only if potential COVID-19 risks can be effectively managed.

 

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.