Golden Independence targets Nevada resource estimate
Golden Independence Mining Corp. [IGLD-CSE; GIDMF-OTCQB, 6NN-FSE] on Tuesday March 30 announced the next series of drill results from its recently completed 2020 resource expansion drill program at the Independence Project, south of Battle Mountain, Nevada.
The project is adjacent to Nevada Gold Mines’ Phoenix Fortitude mining operations. Nevada Gold Mines is a joint venture between two of the world’s largest gold producers Barrick Gold Corp. [ABX-TSX; GOLD-NYSE] and Newmont Corp., [NGT-TSX; NEM-NYSE].
Results from three reverse circulation (RC) holes targeting the main oxide zone include 1.01 g/t gold and 7.3 g/t silver over 64 metres, including 1.37 g/t gold and 9.8 g/t silver over 42.7 metres, including 3.29 g/t gold and 21.0 g/t silver over 13.7 metres.
Golden Independence shares advanced on the news, rising 7.5% or $0.02 to 28.5 cents on volume of 535,500. The shares are trading in a 52-week range of 73 cents and 22 cents.
“These three holes continue to firm up the main oxide zone, and also show indications of additional mineralized zones at downhole depths of 259 to 274 metres, including 0.51 g/t gold and 13.7 g/t silver over 30 feet and 0.46 g/t gold and 5.0 g/t silver over 40 feet,” said Golden Independence President Tim Henneberry.
“The company will follow up on these deeper initial intersections in the up-coming Phase 11 program, anticipated to commence in early Q2,” he said.
Golden Independence is an exploration company focused on the advanced-stage Independence property, which is located on the Battle Mountain-Cortez Trend in Nevada and the Champ precious metal property near Castlegar, British Columbia.
The Independence property benefits from over US$25 million in past exploration, including 200 holes drilled. It is known to host a historic (non-43-101-compliant) Measured and Indicated Resource of 201,000 ounces of gold and an Inferred Resource of 862,000 ounces of gold. The historic resource is comprised of shallow oxide epithermal mineralization and deeper sulphide Carlin gold skarn mineralization.
Under an agreement with arms-length vendor Americas Gold Exploration Inc. (AGEI), Golden Independence can earn up to a 75% interest in the project by fulfilling AGEI’s obligations under an underlying option deal. Part of the agreement requires Golden Independence to spend US$13 million on exploration.
Golden Independence recently expanded the drill program to 18,000 feet, consisting of 20 to 22 reverse circulation drill holes and three to five diamond core holes. This represented a significant increase from the initial 12,000-ft program announced in October, 2020, of 14 reverse circulation and three diamond core holes.
The program expansion resulted from the alteration and mineralization noted by the technical team in the drill chips combined with costs coming in 40% under budget due to tight control.
It is expected that this work will lead to the announcement of a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate in the first half of 2021, and a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) in the second half of this year.