Nevada Exploration’s Infill Borehole Program Defines Large Carlin-type Gold Deposit Target at South Grass Valley on Cortez Trend
Nevada Exploration Inc. (TSX-V: NGE; OTCQB: NVDEF) is very pleased to report that the results of its infill borehole program at the South Grass Valley Project have identified a 1,000 x 4,000 metre Carlin-type Gold Deposit (“CTGD”) target defined by a focused zone of enriched gold in groundwater coincident with the projected intersection of favourable lower-plate host rocks and a major high-angle fault corridor. With strong support for mineralization along the projected fault corridor, NGE is preparing for a deeper drilling program to test for the structural controls of the potentially large system.
NGE’s 100% owned 22 km2 South Grass Valley Project is located at the southern end of Grass Valley, the covered valley immediately south of Barrick’s Cortez complex (Pipeline, Cortez Hills, and Goldrush), one of the world’s largest and lowest cost gold mines with annual production of approximately one million ounces. Two bedrock outcrops spaced 5 km apart at the South Grass Valley Project exhibit CTGD-style alteration and geochemistry within a 700-metre-thick sequence of lower plate carbonate host rocks immediately below the Roberts Mountains Thrust. Based on gravity and air magnetic geophysics, these favourable host rocks project under relatively shallow cover across a large portion of the Project. This large area of favourable geology is intersected by a N-S high-angle fault corridor that projects under the cover from the exposed range front based on mapping and gravity geophysics, providing a potential major conduit to expose the known favourable host rocks to mineralized hydrothermal fluids.
From November 2017 to January 2018, NGE completed 69 infill groundwater sampling boreholes at South Grass Valley to follow up on a gold-in-groundwater anomaly identified during a regional-scale, generative exploration program. The objectives of NGE’s infill program were to establish the extent, size, and magnitude of the gold-in-groundwater footprint at South Grass Valley and its relationship to the larger prospective geologic setting, and to build support for a deeper drilling program. NGE reported results from the first 44 boreholes on January 22, 2018. In total, NGE has now completed 135 boreholes across the Project area, collecting samples from most boreholes at multiple depths, for a total of 234 groundwater samples.
The results of NGE’s infill borehole program have defined a focused 1,000 x 4,000 metre N-S oriented zone of enriched gold, arsenic, antimony, barium, thallium, tungsten, and sulfate in groundwater, representing a hydrogeochemistry footprint consistent in size and magnitude (with gold up to 800 times background) as those seen around Lone Tree and Twin Creeks, large known gold deposits on the Cortez Trend, as well as at NGE’s Kelly Creek Project. Importantly, this zone of enrichment is coincident with the projected intersection of the major N-S high-angle fault corridor and the favourable lower plate carbonate host rocks known to exist at the Project. At 4,000 metres in length, NGE believes that the size of the target is large enough to support a district-scale mineral system, and at 1,000 metres in width, NGE believes that the target is now suitably constrained for a focused deeper drilling program to evaluate the potential for economic mineralization associated with the projected major structural controls.
Discussing the results of the infill borehole program at South Grass Valley, Wade Hodges, NGE’s CEO, explains: “With characteristic CTGD lower plate host rocks exposed in outcrop at the Project, and with strong support from mapping and geophysics that these favourable host rocks continue under cover and intersect a major high-angle structure, this project area has drawn the interest of many exploration companies. As the first group to use hydrogeochemistry at the Project, we are the first to have been able to integrate this new geochemical filter into our exploration program to systematically evaluate this highly-prospective covered target. We are very pleased to share with our stakeholders that the results from our infill program have provided the required, but up-until-now missing, support for gold mineralization at the Project. We have constrained this large prospective area to a focused and compelling target that is now ready for a deeper drilling program.”
A comprehensive technical presentation accompanying this news release is available at: http://nevadaexploration.com/_resources/presentations/Nevada_Exploration_March_2018_SGV_Techical_Presentation.pdf