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| Spring Valley looking South from Terraco Gold's Moonlight Project (Click to Enlarge) |
Barrick Hits 118.9 meters of 2.33 gpt gold at Spring Valley, Nevada
Midway Gold Corp. (TSX.V: MDW | AMEX: MDW) reported
on the development at Spring Valley, where Barrick Gold Exploration Inc.
("Barrick") (TSX: ABX | NYSE: ABX) is earning into Midway's
multi-million ounce gold project in Nevada.
Drilling Highlights
"...An infill drill program within
the existing deposit boundaries has continued to increase the certainty of the
current resource, including several intercepts well in excess of the current
resource grade. Highlights included:
- SV12-561c
18.6 meters of 6.79 gpt gold
- and 118.9 meters of 2.33 gpt gold, including 17.1
meters of 8.06 gpt gold
- SV12-583c
58.8 meters of 1.06 gpt gold, including 1.5 meters of 12.00 gpt gold
- SV12-584c
36.3 meters of 1.92 gpt gold, including 3.2 meters of 14.67 gpt gold
- SV12-594
27.4 meters of 1.68 gpt gold, including 1.5 meters of 12.79 gpt gold
Additionally, drilling at the
northerly extent of the resource area indicates the potential for expansion of
the resource to the north and at depth.
Earn-In Update
Barrick has accelerated their rate of
expenditures to earn-in to Midway's Spring Valley project, where Barrick can
earn a 60% interest in the project by completing expenditures totaling US$30
million before December 31, 2013. Projected expenditures by Barrick in 2012
amount to $10.2M, which combined with spending through 2011 of $17.7M at Spring
Valley (see April 11, 2012 press release), would bring total cumulative
expenditures by Barrick to approximately $27.9M by the end of 2012. Based
on the rate of expenditures through the third quarter of 2012, it is expected
that Barrick will complete their earn-in of 60% of the Spring Valley project by
early 2013. Barrick may further elect to spend an additional $8 million on
or before December 31, 2014 for a total expenditure of $38 million to increase
their ownership interest in Spring Valley to 70%.
Please see Barrick Gold Corporate video below:
Development Activity
Within the quarter, additional development drilling has
gathered metallurgical, hydrological and geotechnical data to be used in a
scoping-level economic evaluation. Metallurgical samples were collected for
a second round of metallurgical testwork that is currently in progress. Hydrological
work is underway to better characterize groundwater conditions for a potential
open pit. Further development activities included potential pit slope
stability studies, mine facility design, seismic hazard analysis, and humidity
cell tests..."
December
6th, 2011 Spring Valley advanced from Barrick's Exploration team to their Mine
Development Group:
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| Barrick Gold Weekly Chart 2012-12-27 |
Q3
Drill Results
"...During the third quarter, Barrick completed 3,072
meters of reverse circulation (RC) and 2,387 meters of core drilling. This
drilling included four core holes used for metallurgical sampling, four holes
for geotechnical testing (SV12-611c to 614c), and eight water-monitoring wells
(SV12-600w to 608w). Total drilling for the year through the third quarter is
11,834 meters of RC and 6,240 meters of core..."
The link below shows the locations of drill holes in relation
to the current Spring Valley resource estimate:
Please
see May 24th, 2011 Midway Gold Corp. NI 43-101 Technical Report for Spring
Valley below:
Please see Midway Gold Presentation
from the Denver Gold Forum contained in the video link below:
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| Midway Gold Weekly Chart 2012-12-27 |
Johnston-Sequoia Commentary:
"What you see depends on what you thought before you looked."
--- Eugene Taurman
I was recently sent a copy of a Bob Bishop interview with a very famous Nevada Geologist the late Dr. Ralph Roberts (who is credited with the discovery of the Carlin and Battle Mountain Gold Belts, the richest gold-mining region in United States) from September 1988. (Dr. Roberts published a very famous report titled "Alignment of mining districts in north-central Nevada" which posed a theory that when tested by then Newmont Geologist John Livermore led to the discovery of the Carlin mine in 1961). Dr. Roberts discusses with Bob Bishop his vision of the evolving nature of the Carlin trend (in 1988) & when cross referenced with what we now know today of the Carlin trend - his accuracy truly incredible.
Interestingly Dr. Roberts discussed the implementation of deeper drilling which ultimately led to the discovery of both the Betze-Post (now Barrick's Goldstrike mine);
Barrick's Goldstrike mine, Nevada
and Newmont's lowest cost producing mine - the Ken Snyder "Midas" mine:
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| Newmont's Ken Snyder "Midas" mine, Nevada |
Gathering each piece of the puzzle is what makes the Discovery process so fascinating. When I was first introduced to this evolving Humboldt district in May 2008 Midway Gold still controlled 100% of the project and Barrick was simply an equity investor in Midway with approximately 10% ownership in MDW. At that time the NI 43-101 resource was "just" 993,000 ounces of gold in the measured, indicated and inferred ("MI & I") categories. Today Spring Valley sits at 4,100,000 ounces in the MI & I categories (which is based on a May 2nd, 2011 resource estimate). The evolution of this district has been truly remarkable and we have now seen the single best intercept to date at Spring Valley {which lends itself to Dr. Roberts deeper drilling discussion as hole SV12-561c mineralized zone starts at 1,061 feet (323.4 m) and ends at 1,451 ft (442.3 m)}:
- SV12-561c 18.6 meters of 6.79 gpt gold and 118.9 meters of 2.33 gpt gold, including 17.1 meters of 8.06 gpt gold
*** "Drilling at
the northerly extent of the resource area indicates the potential for expansion
of the resource to the north and at depth."
Terraco Gold Royalty Option on the Spring Valley Project***
"Terraco has royalty coverage on claims covering the Spring Valley Gold Project located in Pershing County, Nevada. Spring Valley is a joint venture between Barrick Gold Corp. and Midway Gold Corp., where Barrick has the right to earn 60% interest in the project by completing work expenditures totalling US $30 million before December 31, 2013.
Terraco's net smelter returns ("NSR") royalty coverage includes the option to acquire a 2.5% NSR royalty (by December 2016) on claims covering the majority of the Spring Valley deposit and an additional direct ownership and option for a 1% NSR royalty covering the remaining portion of the Spring Valley deposit."
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| Terraco Gold Royalty Option on Spring Valley, Nevada (Click to Enlarge) |
Nano-cap Terraco Gold Corp. (TSX.V: TEN | US: TCEGF) has positioned itself very well in this evolving district with a 2.5% & 1.0% NSR royalty options on the Barrick Gold - Midway Gold Spring Valley Project and 100% ownership of the 35 sq km (Terraco's Moonlight Project) which adjoins the north side of this evolving Nevada discovery.
The History of the Evolving Humboldt District - Pershing County, Nevada
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| The Evolving Humboldt District looking south over Terraco`s Moonlight Project (Click to enlarge) |
History of the Barrick Gold/Midway Gold Spring Valley Project:
"Placer gold was discovered in Spring Valley Canyon in the 1880’s and has been mined intermittently since that time. A gold dredge operated in the eastern portion of the project area in the 1910’s and 1920’s. The current Spring Valley resource lies in an alluvial-filled valley immediately west and upslope from the placer workings. Modern exploration at Spring Valley began with 4 holes drilled by Kennecott in 1996. Echo Bay acquired the property in 2000 and drilled the discovery hole in 2001. MGC gained control of the property in 2003, and immediately began a drill program that continued through 2008. MGC signed the Exploration Agreement with Barrick in 2009. During the earn-in period Barrick is conducting exploration pursuant to the terms of the agreement while MGC maintains 100% control of the property. Barrick has drilled 72 drill holes through the end of 2010 to better define the known mineralized area while continuing to test mineralized controls along strike to the north..."
Terraco Gold's Moonlight Project History & Production
"John Livermore (discoverer of the original Carlin Deposit) of Cordilleran
Exploration (CORDEX) became interested in the Moonlight Mine and visited the
area several times during the period between 1981 and 2003.... The samples range in value from
(one sample) below detection limits up to 415 opt silver (non-NI 43-101
compliant). All samples returned only trace amounts of gold. John Livermore and
CORDEX returned to the Moonlight in 1999, staking an unknown number of claims
around the original Grant Patent and leasing the patented claim from John
Heizer. A series of thirty samples were collected from the Moonlight Mine (the
original Grant Patent) by geologists for CORDEX. Of those samples, the assay certificate
from Legend, Inc., of Reno, Nevada, indicates that several samples were
anomalous in silver and gold, with values up to 1,329 ppm (gpT) or 38.76 opt
silver and 4.801 ppm (gpT) or 0.140 opt gold (non-NI 43-101 compliant)....
Recent History of Nearby Properties or Projects in the Humboldt District
...Nearby in the Humboldt Range, recent history includes developments at
Coeur d’Alene Mining’s Coeur Rochester Mine and the Midway-Barrick Spring
Valley Joint Venture. Coeur's 100% owned Rochester mine has produced more than
127 million ounces of silver and 1.5 million ounces of gold since production
began in 1986 (Coeur website, Nov 2010)... Proven
and Probable reserves at Rochester, according to the Coeur website at year-end
2009, totaled 42.4 million tons containing 25.9 million ounces silver and
233,000 ounces gold..."
Please see Terraco Gold Corporate video below:
Will the evolving Humboldt District one day be recognized as a major Nevada Gold Trend? - only time will tell. What we do know is that Midway Gold and now Barrick have done (and are currently doing) a tremendous job of defining this new Nevada discovery.
I am an advisor of Terraco Gold Corp. & own shares in the company. As always, please do your own due diligence. To all of our readers - I hope you and your families have a safe and wonderful holiday season.
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| Your Editor standing along the Blackridge Fault on Terraco Gold's 100% owned Moonlight Project, Nevada |
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