NEVADA — Mt. Hamilton adds to Rea’s output

The Mt. Hamilton heap-leach mine, near Ely, turned out 8,550 oz. gold and 18,850 oz. silver during the first three months of this year, compared with 7,930 oz. gold and 23,700 oz. silver for the comparable period of 1996.

Rea Gold (REO-T) notes that its operating results for the first quarter relate only to the Mt. Hamilton open-pit mine, as the new San Gregorio gold mine in Uruguay has not yet reached commercial production.

The company says this year’s low gold prices resulted in a decrease in revenue for the period to $3 million, compared with $3.3 million for the first quarter of last year. The loss for the period was $5.8 million (or 6 cents per share), compared with a loss of $856,624 in the first three months of 1996.

The mine is in the southern portion of the Battle Mountain gold trend and occurs within a gently folded sequence of Cambrian-Aged sedimentary rocks, which have been intruded by the Cretaceous-Aged Seligman and Monte Cristo stocks. It consists of two deposits, Seligman and Centennial, situated 1 km apart.

Mining of the Seligman deposit turned out 27,000 oz. last year, though operating results were well below expectations. Mining is expected to cease shortly at Seligman, though evaluation of the more favorable Centennial deposit will continue in an effort to resume mining at a rate of 50,000 oz.

annually.