Exhibit 99.1
Silver Elephant Appoints Nickel Experts from Vale for its Flying
Nickel Spinout
Vancouver, British Columbia, May 25, 2021 – Silver Elephant
Mining Corp. (“Silver Elephant” or “the
Company”) (TSX:ELEF, OTCQX:SILEF, Frankfurt:1P2N)
announces the following advisory and management appointments to the
Company’s Minago nickel operation. They will also assist with
the proposed spinout of the Company’s wholly owned Flying
Nickel Mining Corp.
Rob Van Drunen: Project Manager
Robert
Van Drunen, who is based in Thompson Manitoba, has over 30 years of
experience with Vale and Inco. He started his mining career with
Inco in 1990. He progressed through his career with increasing
levels of responsibility, including Mine Manager, and most recently
Senior Project Manager of the Thompson Operation. In the latter
role, he led multi-disciplinary teams in mining operations,
maintenance, exploration, procurement, supply chain management, and
contract management.
Mr. Van
Drunen holds a Masters Certificate in Project Management from York
University. He specializes in process improvement. He has a track
record in cost control. He created a zero-harm safety culture with
years of results. Mr. Van Drunen will be managing Minago’s
activities and assisting Silver Elephant's projects in Nevada and
Bolivia.
Doug Ramsey, M.Sc., R.P.Bio: Environmental Manager
Doug
Ramsey is a Registered Professional Biologist in British Columbia,
with four decades of experience, both as a consultant and on the
owner’s team, in the areas of environmental assessment,
permitting, and indigenous consultations in the mining sector. Mr.
Ramsey brings particular understanding of the mining sector in
Manitoba, having led the permitting of several mines, operations
environmental monitoring and permitting at the Tanco mine for 12
years, and mine closure and reclamation projects, including a
continuing role as Technical Director for the Sherridon orphaned
mine site reclamation project.
Mr.
Ramsey had his own Manitoba-based consulting practice for more than
20 years and was a senior consultant at Wardrop Engineering/Tetra
Tech WEI Inc for 7 years, followed by 8 years on the owner’s
team of Copper North Mining, initially as VP, Sustainability and
Environmental Affairs, and later as CEO, before returning to his
own consulting practice in 2020. Over his career, Mr.
Ramsey’s practice has included clients such as Inco,
Falconbridge, Kinross, Barrick, Spanish Mountain Gold, Environment
Canada, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, as well as numerous First
Nations in Manitoba as well as in Ontario, Quebec, and British
Columbia.
Mr.
Ramsey is regularly called upon to present scientific information
to indigenous stakeholders and has made presentations on
environmental and reclamation issues at various mining conferences.
Mr. Ramsey is very familiar with Minago project and will be
assisting Minago’s Environmental Impact Assessment and
indigenous consultation.
Mark Scott: Advisor
Mark
Scott has had a distinguished 20-year career with Vale, Inco and
Noranda. His past roles include: Vice President & Head of
Manitoba Operations, Vale Canada Ltd.; Director Mining &
Milling, Vale Manitoba Operations; Manager, Thompson Nickel
Refinery; General Manager, Human Resources & Sustainability;
President & Board Chair, Mining Association of Manitoba
Inc.
Mr.
Scott is currently President & CEO of Sassy Resources
Corporation. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Dalhousie University,
a Master of Industrial Relations from the University of Toronto,
and a Masters Certificate in Project Management from York
University (Schulich School of Business) and the University of
Winnipeg. He brings to the Minago operation a wealth of experience
in mining, processing & exploration, strategic planning,
projects, and business & organizational
development.
David Gower, P Geo: Advisor
David
Gower has 20 years’ experience in nickel exploration with
Falconbridge (now Glencore), most recently as Director of Global
Nickel and PGM exploration. While at Falconbridge, he led
exploration teams to brownfield discoveries at Raglan, Sudbury,
Matagami, Falcondo and greenfield discoveries at Araguaia in
Brazil, Kabanga in Tanzania, and Amazonas, Brazil.
Mr.
Gower is currently the CEO of Emerita Resources Corp. For the past
10 years he has held executive and director positions with several
junior and mid-sized mining companies. Mr. Gower will advise on
Minago and regional nickel exploration at Thompson nickel
belt.
Harald Batista: Advisor
Based in Brazil and California, Harald Batista is the son of the
honorable Eliezer Batista (1924–2018), the founder and former
president of CVRD (now Vale). With extensive network and fluency in
Portuguese, German, English, and Spanish, Mr. Batista will advise
on Flying Nickel’s Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)
strategy.
These
five personnel additions will be teaming with the Company’s
VP Canadian Operation:
Danniel Oosterman, P. Geo
Based in Toronto, Danniel Oosterman began his career with
Falconbridge and Inco (now Vale) and has been in mining and
exploration for over 20 years. At Inco he was part of the
exploration team that drilled the T-3 underground nickel deposit at
Thompson. Mr. Oosterman is a highly experienced field geologist. He
has successfully managed multi-million-dollar drilling programs in
challenging weather and altitude conditions in northern Canada, the
Western Cordillera, and the Bolivian Andes.
Mr. Oosterman holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in geology from Laurentian
University and is a member of the Professional Geoscientists of
Ontario. He is a Qualified Person as defined in NI
43–101.
Dan
Oosterman remarks:
“Our
experienced exploration, environmental, operational, M&A
executives will strive to advance Minago and take Flying Nickel to
great heights in the Canadian nickel junior-mining
space.”
About the Minago Project
Minago
spans 197 km2. in Manitoba’s Thompson Nickel Belt (TNB),
the world’s fifth-largest nickel-bearing geological belt.
There have been 5 billion pounds of nickel production at TNB since
1958. Manitoba Provincial Highway 6 and a high-voltage (230 kV)
transmission line both transect the Minago project. Vale currently
mines and produces nickel concentrates in Thompson at the heart of
the TNB, 270 km northeast of the Minago project. Its nickel
concentrates are shipped by rail to its Sudbury smelter for
processing to refined nickel. To date, $35 million have been
invested at Minago, including 74,000 meters of exploration
drilling. Minago is considered a non-material asset of the
Company.
In 2011, an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) submitted by the
previous operator for a 10,000-tons-per-day open-pit operation at
Minago was approved by the Manitoba government. The Company is
studying which of these permits are still in good standing and is
undertaking to update the EIS as necessary in 2021.
An
independent Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) in
accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure
for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") for Minago in being prepared in
collaboration between Mercator Geological Services Limited
(“Mercator”), AGP Mining Consultants
(“AGP”) and Stantec. The MRE is expected to be
completed and announced in June, 2021.
The Company further announces that pursuant to the terms of the
Company’s Share-Based Compensation Plan, it has granted in
aggregate, 300,000 incentive stock options
(the “Options“),
to certain consultants of the Company. The Options are exercisable
at a price of $0.37 per Common share for a term of five years
expiring on May 24, 2026 and vest at 12.5% per quarter for the
first two years following the date of grant.
About Silver Elephant
Silver Elephant Mining Corp. is a premier silver mining and
exploration company with proposed nickel and vanadium
spinouts.
Further information on Silver Elephant can be found at
www.silverelef.com.
SILVER ELEPHANT MINING CORP.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
John Lee
Executive Chairman
For more information about Silver Elephant, please contact Investor
Relations:
+1.604.569.3661 ext. 101
ir@silverelef.com www.silverelef.com
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involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause
the actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially
different from future results, performance, or achievements
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These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should
not place undue reliance on the Company’s forward-looking
statements. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in
the forward-looking statements contained in this news release and
the documents incorporated by reference herein are reasonable, but
no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be
correct. In addition, although the Company has attempted to
identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events,
or results to differ materially from those described in
forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause
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the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as expressly
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