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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Sabina Gold and Silver Corp. was touring the North earlier this month to share the success of the largest work campaign it's launched at the Back River Gold Project to date.

Sabina held open houses in Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, and Yellowknife to announce the success of its 2012 work program at Back River Gold Project. - photo courtesy of Sabina Gold and Silver Corp.

The Back River Gold project, located 75 km southwest of Bathurst Inlet and 520 km northeast of Yellowknife, showed promising mineralization during the drilling program, launched in Feb.

"Our 2012 results have confirmed the robust nature of the iron formation-hosted deposits at Back River," stated Rob Pease, president and chief executive officer for Sabina Gold and Silver Corp. in a news release on the findings.

"The Back River claims host approximately 60 km of prospective iron formation, of which approximately only six km has been systematically explored by Sabina. This is a highly prospective land package and year over year we continue to extend mineralization to depth and along strike, all the while adding ounces and finding new targets that warrant followup."

Sabina's plans for 2013 include the release of an updated resource calculation in the next few months, the completion of a pre-feasibility study in the third quarter, and draft an environmental impact statement near the end of the year.

Drilling, engineering work, and environmental baseline development are also scheduled to continue in 2013.

As part of the company's community outreach approach, open houses were held in Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk and Yellowknife announcing both the 2012 results and future plans. They were staffed by both Sabina corporate employees and individuals from the two Nunavut communities who have worked on the Back River site.

"At least twice per year we go into Cambridge and Kugluktuk and ... approximately every nine months we go into all of the Kitikmeot communities, all five," said Matthew Pickard, director of environment and community relations for Sabina. "This will increase as our project advances. We'll do more outreach and engagement as we get closer to what will hopefully be a mine."

Pickard said Sabina staff also met with members of hunters and trappers organizations of both Bathurst Inlet and Umingmaktok (Bay Chimo) in order to include community members who use the area seasonally.

The company has also formed working groups in Kugluktuk and Cambridge Bay comprised of nine community-selected members that meet with Sabina more often.

"We went out to groups like hunters and trappers organizations and the elders and the youth and the hamlet council, and we asked for them to identify someone within their group, whoever they wanted, who could spend more time with us, make site visits with us, and really get to know the project closer," Pickard said.

The working groups have met with Sabina three times this year and took part in a site tour and day trip in September, he said.

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