TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Emerging precious metal producer Pershing Gold has lifted the measured and indicated resource at its flagship Relief Canyon mine project by 34%, reflecting improved confidence in the resource model.

Reno, Nevada-based Pershing on Monday reported that an upgraded National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource estimate for the Pershing County, Nevada project now showed a combined measured and indicated resource of 739 000 oz of gold and an inferred resource of 70 000 oz of gold.

This was an improvement over the previous 552 000 oz measured and indicated resources reported in March 2014.

"This resource update immediately creates additional shareholder value. The last phase of the 2014 drilling programme focused on development drilling to tighten up drill hole spacing in the high-grade zones of the North Target Area," said Pershing president, CEO and executive chairperson Stephen Alfers.

"We expect the 34% increase in the measured and indicated resource and the additional ounces identified in the stockpile will expand and upgrade the in-pit resource and correspondingly increase the current net asset value of the project,” he noted, adding that for the rest of the year the company planned to continue to aggressively drill the deposit to build on the high-grade intercepts encountered earlier this year and further add ounces as it progressed the Relief Canyon project towards production.

The mining company restarted the 552 000 oz Relief Canyon mine, which included three openpit mines and a fully permitted and constructed heap-leach processing facility.

Pershing Gold's land-holdings covered about 25 000 acres, including the Relief Canyon mine asset and lands surrounding the mine in all directions. This land package provided Pershing Gold with the opportunity to expand the Relief Canyon mine deposit and to explore and make new discoveries on nearby lands.

Nevada had the second-largest gold reserves in the world behind only the Witwatersrand, in South Africa. Over 152-million ounces of gold had been mined in the state since 1835.