Download - Society of Economic Geologists

32 SEG NEWSLETTER No 65 • APRIL 2006... from 31Exploration Reviews (Continued)EXPLORATION REVIEWSresults from last year’s drilling at GoldPick in Eureka County. Nineteen reversecirculation holes totaling 11,700 ft weredrilled to test the extent of the golddeposit. Most of the mineralized intervalsare in the 10- to 25-ft range withgrades up to 0.10 opt Au. At theirSlaven Canyon project (Lander County)initial results are encouraging, with a50-ft intercept that averages 0.092 optAu starting at about 80 ft below the surface.Gold is hosted in brecciated chertand argillite of the Slaven Chert.Gateway Gold released a resourceestimate for the Big Springs deposit inElko County. Several cutoff grades wereused but the largest reported resourcewas at a 0.025 opt Au cutoff and containsabout 15.4 Mt with an average grade of0.078 opt Au. Drilling has apparentlynot defined the entire deposit.As Cortez Mines begins developmentof the Cortez Hills deposit (LanderCounty) two adits were started to provideunderground access for explorationof the deeper portion of the deposit.This is the first modern undergrounddevelopment along the BattleMountain-Eureka Trend.Given the higher metal prices, QuadraMining reevaluated its reserves atRobinson (White Pine County) andconcluded that the deposits contains anaggregate proven and probable reserveof about 145.5 Mt with an averagegrade of 0.69% Cu and 0.007 opt Au,plus by-product molybdenum. The projectedmine life was increased from 8.3to 10.3 years.Queenstake Resources continues toexpand the Starvation Canyon golddeposit (Elko County). Since October2005, an additional 27 core and reversecirculation holes have been completed,totaling 15,544 ft. Two of the moreimpressive holes contain 60 ft of 0.357opt Au and 45 ft of 0.413 opt Au. Thedeposit is still open in several directions.Midway Gold continues to explorethe Spring Valley gold deposit (PershingCounty). Gold mineralization is beneath50 to 300 ft of alluvium in the basal portionof the Rochester rhyolite that consistsof intercalated lithic tuff, weldedtuff, flow banded rhyolite, and spheruliticrhyolite. Mineralization is along thenortheast margin of a large diatremewith secondary breccias. Gold occurs ina hydrothermal breccia, stockwork veinsalong the diatreme margin, and stockworkveins and breccias in the rhyolites.Gryphon Gold is in the midst of alarge drilling program in the Borealismine area (Mineral County) and identifiedadditional resources around theexist pits and significant expansions ofthe Graben deposit. Significantmineralization was also identified in anarea not previously drilled between theEast Ridge and Northeast Ridge pits.One hole in this area contains an intervalof 145 ft of 0.021 opt Au, startingfrom the surface. One hole at the northeasternmargin of the Freedom Flatsdeposit encountered 245 ft of 0.054 optAu, including 35 ft of 0.189 opt Au. Twoholes along the eastern margin of theGraben deposit near Freedom Flats,encountered 85 ft of 0.069 opt Au and250 ft on 0.061 opt Au. All of these mineralizedareas are still open.Gold Summit is renewing drilling atMonte Cristo (Esmeralda County) andcompleted a 43-101 evaluation of theproperty. The document puts the inferredresource at 365,000 t with a grade of0.19 opt Au opt Au and 0.60 opt Ag.It is only fair to report all of theaction on a property. Remember thosedrill hole intercepts that New SleeperGold announced from the Sleeper property(Humboldt County)? They were sogood that New Sleeper has terminatedthe agreement with X-Cal and took awrite-down of about $20 M.Metallic Ventures completed a 14-hole reverse circulation drilling programtotaling 6,300 ft at Gemfield andagain failed to define the edges of thedeposit. Most of the holes encounteredsignificant intervals (up to 100+ ft) oflow- to mid-0.01X opt Au. Much of themineralization is oxidized and occurs inthe Sandstorm Rhyolite Formation.Hecla Mining is developing undergroundaccess for drill stations at theHollister Development Block of theIvanhoe property (Elko County). About2,700 ft from the portal the Gwenivereveining was intersected. Channel samplingof the west and east ribs producedan average thickness of 11.7 ft with anaverage grade of about 1.4 opt Au.The last issue of this column containeda summary of favorable resultsat AuEx Ventures’ Pequop drilling(Elko County). After those results werereleased, NewWest Gold Corp. steppedforward and notified AuEx that it ownsthe mineral rights to a substantial portionof the Long Canyon mineralizedarea. After much soul-searching andrenewed land-status investigations, AuExconcluded that the NewWest claim has“merit.” Two actions are on-going,negotiations between the two companiesare in progress, and every landmanin Nevada is searching their records tosee if they have any liability. In the lattercase there are several calls to insuranceagents for liability insurance.Miranda Gold reports that BarrickGold completed a 1,500+ ft core hole attheir Horse Mountain project (LanderCounty). The hole encountered theRoberts Mountains thrust at about 940ft which contained some gold mineralizationin the upper plate rocks and asubstantial thickness of gold mineralizationin the Roberts Mountains Formationbelow the thrust. The interval is96.2 ft thick with an average grade of0.023 opt Au. The interval is stronglydecalcified, oxidized, argillized, andbrecciated. I continue to ask the questionabout these types of deep plays to testunder the Roberts Mountains thrust:now what? It is really expensive to chaselow-grade gold mineralization at thesedepths in the hope that the gold zonewill become higher grade and larger.Klondex Mines’ on-going drilling atFire Creek (Lander County) continuesto intersect high-grade gold mineralization.The latest release of assays containsa 10-ft section of 1.73 opt Au, withothers in the 5- to 10-ft range of 0.25opt Au and greater.Royal Standard Minerals completed14 holes in and around the PODresource (Elko County) to collect metallurgicalsamples and to further test thehigh-grade core of the deposit. One holeintersected 110 ft of 0.134 opt Au, whichresulted in extending the core of the depositand opened addition possibilities.Staccato Gold Resources drilledthree core holes at its South Eurekaproject (Eureka County) which in a previouslife was known as Ratto Canyon.All holes intersected higher grade goldintervals that are sulfide bearing. Thebest interval is 65 ft of 0.344 opt Au.NEW MEXICOWhen was the last time any miningnews from New Mexico appeared in thecolumn? Amazing what the price ofuranium will do to the mining industry.Miners will go to places previouslyunthinkable. Quincy Energy, rememberthem in Oregon as Quincy Gold,