Ascendant Resources Provides June and Second Quarter Production Update

Ascendant Resources(TSXV:ASND) (Ascendant or the Company) (Ascendant or the Company) announces zinc equivalent metal production of 6,944 tonnes during the second quarter; 15% higher than the first quarter and up 4% from guidance of 6,664 tonnes at its El Mochito mine in Honduras.

Milled production for the month was 50,795 tonnes, an average of 1,693 tonnes per day. The second quarter milling production rate increased 15% against Q1 but was 7% lower than the provided guidance of 1,850 tpd. This was offset by 7% higher than planned metal grades mined on a zinc-equivalent basis and higher processing recoveries. The Company is not making any revisions to the guidance issued on April 18, 2017 and remains confident of achieving its guidance for the year.

The mine hoisted 51,283 tonnes of ore in the month of June, an average of 1,709 tonnes per day. Mining in June continued to be impacted by reduced availability of the underground mining equipment, once again underscoring the expected benefits from the Company’s program to upgrade the existing aging mining fleet of ten trucks and six loaders.

Of the three trucks and two loaders ordered in March, four pieces are now underground with the second truck and the second loader expected to be in operation by July 25th once fully commissioned. The addition of the new equipment, with high availability, and continued progress in various other productivity improvement initiatives already underway are expected to support higher sustained production rates going forward (see press releases on June 12, April 18, 2017 and the corporate presentation).

Operational performance over the past three months and Q2 2017 is displayed in the table below: