VanGold Mining Corp  (TSX-V:VGLD) announces that it has concluded its 1,000 tonne bulk sample and metallurgical test of material from its El Pinguico silver and gold project, located 7km south of the city of Guanajuato, Mexico.

Bulk Sample and Metallurgical Test:

VanGold has completed its bulk sample and metallurgical test which consisted of delivering a total of 1039 tonnes of mineralized material from its El Pinguico silver and gold project for processing at Endeavour Silver Corp.’s (Endeavour) (TSX:EDR) nearby Bolanitos mill. Click here to see drone video footage of this work. The VanGold Story Episode 1:

https://youtu.be/ZL13PWaexsg

By conducting this large test, the Company will gain valuable metallurgical and precious metal recovery information pertaining to the mineralized material on the El Pinguico property. As well, the Company will gather critical economic data regarding the potential for direct shipping of this material, as well as higher-grade material stockpiled underground within old mine workings of the El Pinguico mine, to one of several operating mills in the Guanajuato area.

This bulk sample was sent to Endeavour’s Bolanitos mill, located to the north of Guanajuato and approximately 28 km from El Pinguico. Though sample material was derived exclusively from the Company’s surface stockpile, results from this test will have direct implications for the Company’s higher grade underground stockpile material, and for the project as a whole.

The Company will report the results obtained from this test once all head grade information, gold and silver recoveries, and concentrate ratio information has been received and thoroughly analyzed by Company engineers, geologists, and our consulting metallurgist, Mr. Augustin Parra, Professor of Metallurgy at the University of Guanajuato. The Company anticipates this process will take 7 to 10 days.

Processing Procedure:

At Bolanitos, VanGold performed a flotation metallurgical test where the final product was a concentrate that will confirm initial head grades and show metallurgical recoveries, concentrate ratio values, as well as give the Company an initial cost estimate associated with the processing of this material. The Company engaged with local contractors in Guanajuato to haul approximately 52 twenty-tonne truckloads of this material to Bolanitos. All of the material for this test was taken from the Company’s surface stockpile which was left in place when mining ceased at El Pinguico in 1913. This stockpile contains an exploration target of 175,000 to185,000 tonnes grading 1.25 to 1.35 gpt AuEq. These figures are conceptual in nature.^[1]

Clearing the Bottom of the El Pinguico Shaft:

While the Company awaits final data from this bulk sample, plans are being finalized for crews to begin clearing the bottom of the El Pinguico shaft within the next few weeks. In the 107 years since mining ceased at El Pinguico, approximately 30m of debris has accumulated at the bottom of this shaft. The Company plans to attach a hoist to the metal head-frame currently in place above the shaft and begin removing this material. Once this material has been removed, crews will be in a position to do three things:

1. Sampling the bottom of the underground stockpile: The underground (UG) stockpile consists of material that in 2012 the Mexican Geological Survey agency determined to be 174,500 tonnes in size.^[2] In 2017, VanGold conducted a trenching program at the top of the UG stockpile. This program resulted in a weighted average of all of the trench samples of 1.75 gpt Au and 183 gpt Ag.^[3] Once crews remove the material at the bottom of the El Pinguico shaft, VanGold will be in a position to properly sample the bottom of the UG stockpile, and determine whether the grade of gold and silver established by trenching in 2017 on the top of the stockpile, extends to the bottom of the stockpile.
2. Inspecting the #7 Sangria Adit: Clearing 30m of material from the El Pinguico shaft will allow crews to enter and inspect the mine’s #7 Adit – also known as the “Sangria” adit. This adit may provide a potential safe and inexpensive haulage way to bring the UG stockpile material to surface for onward delivery to a nearby mill for processing. This is the Company’s preferred method to bring the UG stockpile material out of the mine; however fully refurbishing the El Pinguico shaft is also a potential alternative. The decision on which of these possibilities the Company will pursue will be made once the Sangria adit is entered and fully inspected.
3. 3. Sampling of the Colmilo Stope: Once the El Pinguico shaft has been suitably cleared, it is anticipated that crews will be able to access and sample the Colmilo Stope. This stope was a high grade portion of the El Pinguico mine during the period prior to its closure in 1913. Examples of historic sampling from this area conducted in 1909 can be seen on page 5 of the Company’s corporate presentation, available on its Website: vangoldmining.com.^[4]

The El Pinguico Project:

El Pinguico is a high-grade gold and silver deposit that was mined from the early 1890s until 1913. Toward the end of that period it was mined exclusively by The Pinguico Mines Company of New York City, whose shares traded on the Boston and New York Stock Exchanges. The mining was done principally from the El Pinguico and El Carmen veins, which are thought to be splays off the Mother Vein, or ‘Veta Madre’.

The Veta Madre is associated with a mega fault that outcrops for 25 kilometres and is the most important source of precious metal mineralization in the region. The Veta Madre may cross VanGold’s property at depth, underneath the high grade El Pinguico and El Carmen veins. Very limited drilling has been done on the property and no drilling has attempted to encounter the Veta Madre at depth.

Historic stockpiles of mineralized material exist on surface and underground at El Pinguico which may potentially provide feed to one of several operational mills in the Guanajuato area.

QA/QC Procedures:

Standard QA/QC protocols were NOT employed by VanGold during the sampling of the material sent for testing because the heterogeneity of the 107-year-old waste dump made it difficult to do cost affective determinative sampling. However, in an effort to understand the potential gross grade of the material being sent to the mill the sampling methodology described below was used:

1.- Representative samples were taken with a trowel from material on a front end loader prior to being deposited in the bed of a 20 tonne truck. One sample was taken from each of the truck loads during the course of the day – averaging 8 to 10 samples per day.

2.- At the end of each day, all the material was crushed by hand to have one fine, quartered and representative sample with an average weight of 3 kg., which was then sent to the Platinum Corporation SA de CV assay laboratory, in the city of Silao, Mexico.

The final grade of the composite dump sample can only be determined once the final head and tail grades have been calculated by Endeavour Silver Corp’s laboratory at the Bolanitos Mill for the entire 1039 tonne sample.

Hernan Dorado Smith, a director of VanGold and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release.

About VanGold Mining Corp.

VanGold Mining is an exploration company engaged in the exploration of mineral projects in the Guanajuato region of central Mexico. The Company’s flagship El Pinguico project is a significant past producer of high-grade gold and silver and is located just 7km south of the city of Guanajuato, Mexico. The Company remains focused on the near-term potential for development and monetization of both its surface and underground stockpiles of mineralized material from El Pinguico.