Viva Gold drills 19.9 g/t gold over 1.5 metres at Tonopah, Nevada
Viva Gold Corp. [VAU-TSXV; VAUCF-OTCQB; 7PB-FSE] released an update on its recently completed, six-hole 1,307-metre, oriented core drilling program at the Tonopah gold project, located on the prolific Walker Lane gold trend near Tonopah, Nevada.
“This drilling program, designed to capture geotechnical information, was very successful in significantly expanding the width of the mineralized zone in the centre of the western lobe of the resource pit. Additionally, the results demonstrate the potential to convert waste to gold mineralization in poorly drilled areas of the resource pit. A significant amount of structural and geotechnical data was captured that will be utilized in mine design and in locating drillholes for a 3,000-metre reverse circulation drilling program that is slated to commence next month. Tonopah is a covered gold deposit, laying under valley floor gravels with no outcrop exposure, meaning that all geologic and structural information must be captured from either drill holes or by geophysical methods. The data captured in this program provides the information required to complete the geotechnical study needed to initiate pre-feasibility study/feasibility study on the project. It also provides critical insight into the structural controls to mineralization necessary to facilitate future discovery at both the eastern and western extents of the project,” stated James Hesketh, President & CEO.
Drill holes TG2204 and TG2201 were drilled to test the north and south extents of mineralization in the centre of the western lobe of the resource pit. TG2204 intercepted a total of 17 metres of gold mineralization averaging 0.8 g/t gold in the north side of the pit wall, while TG2201 intercepted over 15 meters averaging 0.55 g/t gold mineralization inside the south wall of the pit. These combined results expanded the width of the gold zone to over 200 metres through the center of the west pit, a result that strongly demonstrates the potential to infill poorly drilled portions of the pit that are currently carried as waste in the model.
TG2202 and TG2203, drilled at the west end of the resource pit, intercepted possible north-south trending fault structures, which may have resulted in a potential structural offset of the main mineral trend to the north in this area. TG2203 intercepted 1.5 meters at 19.9 g/t gold and 19.2 g/t silver in a vein structure in the centre of the main trend inside the west end of the resource pit.
Holes TG2205 and TG2206 were drilled to penetrate the mineralized horizons to the north and south of hole TG2101 (22.9 meters at 1.5 g/t gold) at the east end of the resource pit. The results potentially describe the north-south limits of a trough of easterly trending gold mineralization.
The oriented core holes in this program were designed to penetrate potential future open pit highwalls to capture data for mine design efforts and to determine structural controls to gold mineralization in those areas. The pit slope locations were defined by the $1,650 resource pit shell used for resource estimation in the NI 43-101 Technical Report, Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Tonopah. Four holes were drilled on the western end of the principal resource pit and two on the eastern end.
Viva Gold principal asset is its 100% ownership in the Tonopah Gold Project (Tonopah), a large land position on the world class Walker Lane Mineral Trend in western Nevada, located about 30 minutes’ drive south-east of the Kinross Round Mountain gold mine. The project is well advanced with a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) describing a potential open pit, heap leach gold recovery operation and a pit confined measured and indicated gold mineral resources containing 394,000 ounces at 0.78 g/t and 206,000 ounces of Inferred resource at 0.87 g/t. The principal mineral trends on the property remain open for extension and the company has a track record of steadily increasing gold resource over the last four years.
Viva has 91.6 million shares outstanding.