Nevada King Gold drills 1.11 g/t AuEq over 25 metres at Silver Park target, Atlanta Gold Mine, Nevada
Nevada King Gold Corp. [TSXV: NKG; OTCQB: NKGFF] provided an update on its Phase III regional drill program including results from 25 reverse-circulation (RC) drill holes from its Silver Park target, at its 12,000- hectare (120km2), 100%-owned Atlanta Gold Mine Project, located in the prolific Battle Mountain Trend 264km northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Silver Park is a large target area (3km E-W x 1km N-S), located ~2km from the Atlanta Resource Zone, that is centred on the historical Silver Park Mine, which was operational at a small scale through the turn of the 20th century.
Silver Park Highlights: Drilling at Silver Park has identified a strong geological and geochemical connection with the Atlanta Resource Zone (ARZ), demonstrating that both areas are part of the same mineralizing hydrothermal event. Gold and silver mineralization occur within the same host rocks and at the same stratigraphic position within the Atlanta Caldera volcanic sequence.
The company now sees strong evidence that the mineralized unconformity that acts as the primary gold control at Atlanta begins to shallow about 500 metres west of the ARZ where it comes back towards surface, flattens out, and continues into the Silver Park Target. Drilling over a 3km east-west area at Silver Park has encountered this unconformity, associated with the same intrusive bodies responsible for depositing gold and silver at the ARZ.
This discovery marks a major departure from the prior understanding of Silver Park as a distinct geological environment, possessing only supergene (at-surface) mineralization with limited potential. Today’s discovery opens a large and untested domain (far larger than the ARZ itself) that could be host to another Atlanta-type deposit.
Twelve of today’s holes encountered elevated and oxidized gold, silver, and associated arsenic values over a 3km east-west area. Highlight hole AT25SP-021 encountered 1.11 g/t AuEq over 25 metres, which is part of a 165-metre interval consisting of three separate mineralized horizons starting at just 18 metres depth that taken together average 0.47 g/t AuEq over 92 metres. AT25SP-021 is located 2km southwest of the Atlanta pit and represents the most significant mineralized interval ever drilled at Atlanta outside of the ARZ. Au-Ag mineralization observed in AT25SP-021 is very similar to that in the resource zone, although it occurs at a considerably shallower depth than most of the mineralization within the ARZ.
Follow-up drilling is planned to further define near-surface, oxidized gold-silver zones at both Silver Park East and West, targeting additional mineralization, including stepping out north of AT25SP-021 into a large, untested CSAMT anomaly.
Cal Herron, Exploration Manager of Nevada King, stated, “Silver Park has always been of interest historically, but very shallow mineralization and a very high silver-to-gold ratio led many to believe the mineralization was purely supergene and of little significance. Our new Phase III drilling has changed that view entirely.
“We’ve now confirmed strong gold and silver mineralization across a large area at Silver Park, including the 92-metre intercept grading 0.47 g/t AuEq in hole SP-21 — the first potentially economic discovery outside the Atlanta resource zone. This mineralization occurs along the same Tertiary-Paleozoic unconformity that hosts gold at Atlanta, and is associated with identical volcanic intrusives, but at a shallower depth.
“This drilling has also established direct geological and geochemical links between Silver Park and Atlanta tying mineralization in both areas to the same hydrothermal event. With this genetic tie now demonstrated, we have a powerful exploration model based on stratigraphy and lithochemistry that allows us to rapidly vector toward new targets across the caldera.
“After several years of work, we are seeing our understanding of the district come into clear focus, significantly increasing the odds of making new discoveries outside the current Atlanta resource.”
Looking at the connection between Silver Park and Atlanta, Au/Ag mineralization in both areas occurs within the same host rocks and at the same stratigraphic position within the Atlanta Caldera volcanic sequence, which in turn strongly suggests mineralization in both areas is tied to the same hydrothermal system. This is evident in the long cross section connecting Silver Park West with the ARZ. The Atlanta Rhyodacite hosts most of the gold mineralization within the ARZ and is chemically very similar to the Silver Park Rhyodacite that hosts mineralization in AT24SP-1, and AT25SP-9, AT25SP-10, and upper part of AT25SP-021.
Furthermore, both mineralized rhyodacite units are underlain by a rhyolite horizon labeled the Lower Rhyolite and Silver Park Rhyolite Tuff. These relationships now establish a district-scale tie between both areas with respect to Au/Ag mineralization, which is a key factor when assessing the district-scale potential for finding another Atlanta-style deposit.
So far, the company has tapped into two areas of shallow, oxidized Au/Ag mineralization at Silver Park (Silver Park East and Silver Park West) and is in the process of drill-evaluating other parts of the caldera, including following up on encouraging drill intercepts.
With these three holes, the company has found a large body of low-grade gold and now must vector in on higher concentrations of mineralization. New holes are planned northwest of AT24SP-1 along the structural trend and are currently in the permitting process, including testing a series of down-dropped graben blocks heading west and northwest that are indicated by the CSAMT data.
Silver Park East Highlights: The Silver Park East (SPE) target measures 1,500 metres east-west by 1,000 metres north-south and is bounded on the east and west sides by northerly-trending faults and on the north side by a thick moat sequence that fills the center of the Atlanta Caldera. The target remains open to the south where post-mineral Ryan Springs volcanics obscure the Atlanta caldera’s southern margin.
Nevada King is advancing and growing its past producing, 120km2 Atlanta Gold Mine project located along the Battle Mountain trend, southeast Nevada. The project hosts an NI 43-101 compliant pit-constrained oxide resource of 460,000 oz Au in the measured and indicated category (11.0M tonnes at 1.3 g/t) plus an inferred resource of 142,000 oz Au (5.3M tonnes at 0.83 g/t) based on historical drilling, and does not include any of the 100,000m+ of drilling completed by Nevada King.