Placer Dome to drill Nevada Pacific’s BMX property

Vancouver A unit of Placer Dome (PDG-T) has filed permits to construct 11 drill-sites on the Long Peak portion of the BMX property, one of several projects held by Nevada Pacific Gold (NPG-V) on or near the Battle Mountain/Eureka gold trend in Nevada.

Placer Dome can earn a 60% interest in the BMX project, recently expanded to include the Long Peak property on the southern end of the combined land package. To earn the interest, Placer Dome must spend US$4 million on exploration over five years. This can be increased to 70% by carrying Nevada Pacific through a feasibility study.

The drill targets at the newly expanded BMX project include areas prospective for open pit and underground deposits. The Long Peak portion of the property is adjacent to the historic Bluebird mine.

Previous work on the Long Peak property was focused on a set of gold-base metal veins and shears. Historic drill results include: 10 ft. of 0.135 oz. gold per ton; 3.5 ft. of 0.76 oz. gold, 32.5 oz. silver, 0.83% lead and 0.55% zinc; 50 ft. of 0.147 oz. gold; 50 ft. of 0.058 oz. gold; and 10 ft. of 0.057 oz. gold and 3.35 oz. silver.

Placer Dome is also exploring Nevada Pacific’s Keystone and Limousine Butte projects under various joint-venture agreements.

Nevada Pacific also owns the Magistral mine in Mexico’s Sinaloa state. Open-pit mining was recently suspended owing to high costs, and the operation is now in a leach-only mode. The company plans to recover about 11,000 oz. gold from the heap-leach pad, and may resume mining once costs are more favorable.