TORONTO, April 03, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HARTE GOLD CORP. (“Harte Gold” or the “Company”) (TSX:HRT) / (OTC:HRTFF) / (Frankfurt:H4O) is pleased to provide the following update on Sugar Zone mine construction activities and appointment of a Director.

Filing of Financials
The Annual Information Form (“AIF”), Annual Audited Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2017 as well as the updated NI 43-101 Resource Report first announced February 15, 2018 have been filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and are also available on the Company’s web site at www.hartegold.com.

Mine Development
Approximately 1,678 meters of ramp and 963 meters of sill development was completed as part of Phase I Commercial Production (“Phase I”), providing access to approximately 79,000 tonnes of mineable stope material.  Mining production will begin in the Phase I area, while ramp and sill excavation continues at depth, facilitating uninterrupted mining operations.  The Company plans to use contract mining for the first two years of production and will assess the merits of transitioning to in-house mining during that period.

Approximately 40,000 tonnes of material grading 5.1 g/t is stored on surface and is available for processing during commissioning.  Approximately $18.9 million was spent on the Phase I mine development, including $17.1 million during 2017.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/42a02524-5f5f-4136-bfc4-3d7638272b11

Processing
After extensive metallurgical test programs having been completed by SGS Canada Inc. (Lakefield) since 2010, a simple process flow sheet was developed.  The flowsheet initially involves a gravity circuit to recover gold in Falcon concentrators.  Recovered gold will be sent to a shaker table and smelted into doré bars for sale. Gold not recovered in the gravity circuit will be processed through a series of flotation cells and recovered in concentrate form.  The Company is currently evaluating several alternative markets for its gold concentrate and expects to make a final decision shortly.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/af496199-d9a4-47e4-ac1a-d4d0bf4898ef

Mill Construction

Overall construction is approximately 60% complete and remains on schedule for commissioning by early Q3 2018.  As of December 31, 2017, $20.8 million has been spent on the mill, excluding site and other indirect costs.  The following summarizes construction activities either completed or currently underway:

• Civil works are substantially completed with only the paste backfill plant area outstanding.
• All long lead items for the mill have been purchased and shipped to site.
• The crushing plant is currently being assembled and the mill feed conveyor is being connected to the mill.
• The ball mill, concentrate thickener and scavenger units have been installed.
• Electrical “e-house” is installed and mill electrical work is underway.
• Long lead items related to the paste backfill plant have been ordered, construction is scheduled for the June – August period.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at 

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Site Infrastructure
The project will run on grid power provided by the town of White River.  A 49 km 44 kV power line is currently under construction, site transformers will be delivered in early June and connection to the grid is scheduled for the end of June.

The Company plans to source skilled labour from the local and surrounding communities.  A 100 person camp has been established in the town of White River.  The camp footprint can be further expanded if necessary for expanded operations.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9b1a8605-3df1-4dd9-9bb8-afca186efec9

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NI 43-101 Resource Report and PEA
The Company has engaged P&E Mining Consultants Inc. (“P&E”) to prepare an updated NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) to include both Indicated and Inferred Resources in the mine plan.  The Company expects to announce its PEA results in the middle of April.  A full report will be filed on SEDAR 45 days following the announcement.

Financing
The Company is currently exploring financing alternatives to fund the remaining construction capital and working capital for the first six months of operations.  The Company has received several term sheets for project debt and/or gold loans from various project finance and alternative resource lenders and is currently evaluating these proposals.  Further detail on financing is targeted for the end of April.

Stock Options
Harte Gold also announced it has granted 16,140,000 stock options to acquire common shares of Harte Gold to Directors, management, consultants and employees. The stock options are exercisable at $0.45 for a period of five years from issuance.

Appointment of Director
Pursuant to its investment in the Company, Appian Capital Advisory LLP, the investment advisor to the Appian Natural Resources Fund (“Appian”), a leading private equity fund focused on metals and mining, has the right to appoint two nominees to Company’s Board of Directors. Michael W. Scherb, Founder and General Partner of Appian has been appointed to the Board.  The number of Directors remains fixed at eight. The appointment of Mr. Scherb is coincidental to the passing of H. Douglas Scharf, announced April 2, 2018.

Mr. Scherb started his career structuring foreign investment into China in 2001 and took part in the country’s rapid economic rise.  He subsequently joined JPMorgan’s metals and mining team in London, where he worked on a combined $185 billion of metals and mining transactions with a focus on strategic advisory to mining companies as it related to growth, corporate advisory and shareholder returns.  Mr. Scherb founded Appian 6 years ago and oversees the fund and its investment strategy.  Mr. Scherb holds a BBA and a Masters in Finance.

Mr. Roman commented “We appreciate the contributions Michael and the Appian team have made to accelerate the development of Harte Gold. We have made tremendous strides since their initial investment in December 2016 and look forward continuing our close working relationship as we develop additional gold resources at the Sugar Zone property and transition to a cash flowing, gold producer in 2018.”

QA/QC Statement
The company has implemented a quality assurance and control (“QA/QC”) program to ensure sampling and analysis of mine and exploration work is conducted in accordance with industry standards. Drill core is sawn in half with one half of the core shipped to Actlabs Laboratories located in Thunder Bay, ON, while the other half is retained at the Company’s core facilities in White River, ON, for future verification. Certified reference standards and blanks are inserted into the sample stream on a regular interval basis and monitored as part of the QA/QC program. Gold analysis is performed by fire assay using atomic absorption, gravimetric or pulp metallic finish.  The mineral resource was prepared in compliance with NI 43-101 guidelines.  Robert Kusins, P. Geo. and Harte Gold’s Senior Mineral Resource geologist, is the Company’s Qualified Person and has prepared, supervised the preparation, or approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release. 

About Harte Gold Corp.
Harte Gold Corp. is focused on the exploration and development of its 100% owned Sugar Zone Property where it has recently completed a 70,000 tonne Advanced Exploration Bulk Sample at the Sugar Zone Deposit and mined 30,000 tonnes under its Phase I Commercial Production Permit. The Sugar Zone Property is located 80 kilometers east of the Hemlo Gold Camp. Using a 3 g/t Au cut-off, the Mineral Resource Estimate dated February 15, 2018 contains an Indicated Mineral Resource Estimate of 2,607,000 tonnes grading 8.52 g/t for 714,200 ounces of contained gold and an Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 3,590,000 tonnes, grading 6.59 g/t for 760,800 ounces of contained gold. Harte Gold also holds the Stoughton-Abitibi property located on the Destor-Porcupine Fault Zone, east of Timmins, Ontario, and adjacent to the Holloway Gold Mine.

The Toronto Stock Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.