Golden Queen Mining Co. Ltd. (TSX:GQM) (OTCQX:GQMNF) is pleased to announce drill results for seven additional holes at its 50%-owned Soledad Mountain gold-silver mine located south of Mojave, California. 

The drill results are part of the Company’s 2018 Main Pit 2 Infill Drilling program. The completed holes GQ-829 through GQ-835 continue to be successful in intersecting and geologically verifying existing shallow mineralized zones in and around the currently mined East Pit, and also continue to be successful in exploring for and intersecting deeper mineralized zones. In some cases, some new mineralized zones have potentially been identified.

Each hole listed in the table below has intersected strong alteration envelopes and locally significant gold/silver mineralization associated with the Patience, Independence, Karma and Queen Esther zones, and has encountered the deeper Silver Queen target in every hole along with other mineralized zones.

Several key features have been observed in the drill cuttings from this group of seven holes:

• Several unnamed or unknown mineralized zones continue to be intersected in most holes, usually situated between the Patience and Queen Esther zones and/or between the Queen Esther and Silver Queen zones. Previous interpretations suggest that these zones may be subparallel to the Queen Esther zone, may be relatively flat-lying, and locally carry significant gold and silver grades (see accompanying table below). Further work and interpretation must be completed to determine whether the gold/silver grades encountered so far in these structures show good continuity from section to section. It is worthy to note that the current drilling program was designed to explore new areas around the Queen Esther and Silver Queen veins for potential ore zones that will expand the current pit design;
• Significantly higher grade gold and silver intercepts have been intersected from the Silver Queen deep target from this latest batch of assay results (see accompanying table). This target appears, at least initially, to be locally composed of two fault or vein splays. These two splays can locally merge (as in the case of the Silver Queen vein observed near surface), but underneath the East Pit area these two Silver Queen splays appear to have a more shallow dip than previously interpreted. The finalized assays from the Silver Queen target from this batch of drill results, while still somewhat erratic, have been much stronger than from the previously announced results from the April 3, 2018 press release. Holes GQ-831 and GQ-832, in particular, contain significant Silver Queen gold/silver mineralization under the East Pit;
• GQ-830 was drilled to verify relatively near-surface Silver Queen vein inferred mineralization. This hole, unfortunately, encountered a large stope (open air); however, after getting through this stope, significant amounts of loose, mostly vein quartz material was collected by the drill. This material may represent historical developed and mined ore which was not taken to the mill and processed because of the US government’s shut down of gold mining in 1942. This material contained significant gold and silver values over 95 feet (see accompanying table). It must be cautioned that this mineralized material is not in-place, recovery of this material by the drill was poor to fair at best, and these results should not be considered as part of an in-situ resource. However, it may be possible that this material can be recovered and processed in the future; and
• A potentially new style of mineralization at Soledad Mountain has been noted from several drill holes in this batch of assays, in particular holes GQ-829, GQ-832, GQ-834, and GQ-835. This mineralization appears to be associated with the contact between porphyritic rhyolite dikes and small plugs (rock unit Trp) with the pyroclastic volcanic country rock (rock unit Tmp). Quartz veinlet and stock work zones are hosted by the pyroclastic rocks with mineralization ranging from 5 to 20 feet outward from the rhyolite dike contact. Further interpretive work is required to determine if this “new” mineralization is volumetrically significant, or if it represents a local phenomenon.

In general, the true thickness of the various mineralized zones is estimated at 75-95% of the mineralized interval in the drill hole. The table below highlights the assay results and initial observations to date:

Additional information on the geographic parameters of the drilling program is presented in the table and figure below:

Additional interpretive work must be completed before these initial geologic observations are verified. Additional assays, when received, should assist with testing the grade continuity of all these structures from section to section.

The company is waiting for the assay results of nine (9) additional holes completing this already successful program

March Operational Results

During the fourth quarter of 2017, Golden Queen accelerated the East Pit development to access higher-grade ore tons to compensate for the shortfall in the ore supplied and the lower than expected gold ore grades from the North-West and Main (Phase 1) Pits. Since November 2017 up to the end of March 2018, eight benches have been mined out in the East Pit and the Company is pleased to report the following positive reconciliation between Ore Control (production) and Reserves: 

The tonnage produced in the East Pit continues to be better than expected due to the presence of ore blocks in the Patience vein structure area that had been classified as possible or simply un-modeled. In addition, the gold grade was 23% higher than estimated for a total of 1.5 times the expected gold ounces that had been predicted. The silver grade was 11% higher than estimated for a total of 1.3 times the predicted number of silver ounces.

Technical Information

The scientific and technical content of this news release relating to the drill results was reviewed, verified and approved by George F. Klemmick, BSc. Geology and CPG-10937, independent consulting geologist, and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. 

The scientific and technical content of this news release relating to the operational results was reviewed, verified and approved by Tim Mazanek, SME, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. 

About Golden Queen Mining Co. Ltd.:

Golden Queen is an emerging gold and silver producer holding a 50% interest in an open pit, heap leach mining operation on the Soledad Mountain property, located just outside the town of Mojave in Kern County in southern California.