VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Liberty Gold Corp. (LGD - TSX) ("Liberty Gold" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce its financial and operating results for the six months ended June 30, 2018. All amounts are presented in United States dollars unless otherwise stated.

Liberty Gold will continue to focus on discovering, exploring and de-risking Carlin Style gold deposits in the Great Basin – USA. Our focus is driven by a proven track record of multiple discoveries and a Company decision to focus our efforts in the jurisdictions of Utah, Idaho and Nevada. The Goldstrike Project in Utah has been advanced from an exploration property to a project with a Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”).

The Black Pine Project in Idaho follows Goldstrike in terms of advancement and is being prepared for its first extensive RC drill program since historical mine closure in 1997. Liberty Gold continues to drill test the Kinsley project in Nevada, targeting deeper, high-grade, Carlin style targets.

Recent Highlights:

Goldstrike

Announced completion of a PEA1:
After-tax Net Present Value at a 5% discount rate and Internal Rate of Return of $129.5 million and 29.4% respectively ($1,300 per ounce “oz” gold price)
Initial capital payback in 2.3 years
Mine life of 7.5 years with a 2 year pre-production period
Life of mine (“LOM”) head grade of 0.48 grams per tonne gold
Low LOM Strip Ratio of 1.2:1
Total amount of gold recovered estimated at 713,000 oz
Average annual gold production of approximately 95,000 oz
Peak annual gold production of approximately 117,000 oz
Pre-production capital cost estimated at $113.2 million, using an owner-operator approach
LOM sustaining capital costs estimated at $61.6 million, plus $20.0 million for closure costs

1 See the “Preliminary Economic Assessment and Independent Technical Report for the Goldstrike Project, Washington County, Utah USA”, effective February 8, 2018 and signed July 16, 2018 authored by Independent Qualified Persons Bob McCarthy, P.Eng. Valerie Sawyer, SME , David Rowe, CPG and Neil Winkelmann, FAusIMM of SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc.; Gary Simmons, MMSA of GL Simmons Consulting, LLC; James N. Gray, P.Geo. of Advantage Geoservices Ltd; George Lightwood, SME, Russell Browne, P.E. and Michael Bidart, P.E. of Golder Associates Inc.; and Carl Defilippi, RM SME of Kappes Cassidy & Associates, and is in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. The report is available under the Company’s profile at sedar.com and is also available on the Company’s website at www.libertygold.ca.

Kinsley

Completed a 2,250 m reverse circulation (“RC”) drill program focusing on the Western Flank’s eastern extension and the Secret Canyon Shale horizon.
Moira Smith, Ph.D., P.Geo., Vice President Exploration and Geosciences, Liberty Gold, is the Company's designated Qualified Person for this news release within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and has reviewed and validated that the scientific and technical information contained in this release is accurate.

Goldstrike, Kinsley and Black Pine are early stage exploration projects; the potential quantities and grades disclosed herein are conceptual in nature and, except for the mineral resource estimate at Goldstrike and Kinsley, there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource for other targets disclosed herein. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in these targets being delineated as a mineral resource.

SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

The following selected financial data is derived from our unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto (the “Interim Financial Statements”) for the six months ended June 30, 2018 as prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standard 34, Interim Financial Reporting. A copy of the Interim Financial Statements is available on the Company’s website at www.libertygold.ca or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The information in the tables below is presented in $000s except per share data:

Three months ended
June 30, Six months ended
June 30,
2018 2017 2018 2017
Attributable to shareholders:
Loss for the period $3,246 $3,131 $5,657 $5,565
Loss and comprehensive loss for the period $3,355 $2,831 $6,147 $5,141
Basic and diluted loss per share $0.02 $0.02 $0.03 $0.04



As at June 30, As at December 31,
2018 2017
Cash and short-term investments $5,181 $2,266
Working capital $4,495 $1,510
Total assets $32,676 $30,009
Current liabilities $954 $972
Non-current liabilities $1,205 $703
Shareholders’ equity $21,503 $19,006

ABOUT LIBERTY GOLD
Liberty Gold is focused on exploring the Great Basin of the United States, home to large-scale gold projects that are ideal for open-pit mining. This region is one of the most prolific gold producing regions in the world and stretches across Nevada and into Idaho and Utah. We know the Great Basin and are driven to discover and advance big gold deposits that can be mined profitably in open-pit scenarios. Our flagship projects are Goldstrike, Black Pine and Kinsley Mountain, all of which are past producing open-pit mines, where previous operators only scratched the surface.

For more information, visit www.libertygold.ca