Eastfield, Prism advance gold properties in Nevada

The Tonapah district has a mining history dating back nearly a century, and now a chapter is about to be written by two Canadian juniors.

Eastfield Resources (ETF-V) and Prism Resources (PRN-V) are operating two exploration properties — Three Hills and the Hill of Gold — which they think have the potential to become moderate-size gold mines.

In June, Eastfield began a 20,000-ft. drill program on the Three Hills property in an attempt to prove up enough mineralization for a low-cost, bulk-tonnage operation. To date, the company has drilled 27 holes on the 2,000-acre property.

The most promising assays were encountered in hole TH-96-14, which hit 170 ft. of altered volcanic rock at an average grade of 0.118 oz. gold per ton.

The mineralization was encountered near surface and includes a 20-ft.

interval grading 0.622 oz.

Additional drilling is attempting to determine the extent of this high-grade zone.

Other holes at Three Hills intersected lower, but still significant, mineralization. TH-96-7 hit 150 ft. grading 0.028 oz., and TH-96-8 hit 200 ft. grading 0.040 oz. To date, six infill holes have been drilled, and more are planned.

Reconnaissance drilling is attempting to expand the known limits of mineralization. The best hole in this area is TH-96-16, which intersected 235 ft. of mineralization grading 0.031 oz. Hole TH-96-10 hit 35 ft. of 0.033 oz.

on a stepout to the west.

To gain a better understanding of the grade of the deposit, the company has reassayed old drill cuttings dating from the 1970s. Hole TH-8 returned 300 ft. grading 0.020 oz. (an increase of 16.5%), which could lead to an improvement in the deposit’s grade.

Glen Garrett, vice-president of Eastfield, believes Three Hills could potentially host more than 200,000 oz. After this season’s drilling, the company hopes to increase the current grade and tonnage estimate, which currently stands at 3.18 million tons grading 0.036 oz.

At the Hill of Gold property, 3 miles to the south, the company has drilled nine holes totalling 3,370 ft. Garrett believes this property also has potential for hosting more than 200,000 oz.

Eastfield is testing the northern side of the roughly circular rhyolite breccia intrusive, an area that was not adequately explored in the past.

Preliminary data suggest mineralization forms a bedlike layer 120-160 ft.

thick, which has been outlined over an area measuring 500 by 400 ft.

Hole HG-96-4, drilled on the northwestern side of the conical hill, encountered 270 ft. of 0.017 oz., while HG-96-5 hit 15 ft. of 0.02 oz., and 75 ft. of 0.013 oz. More drill results are pending, and additional holes are planned for the Hill of Gold.

Eastfield is also conducting metallurgical testing on both properties.

Preliminary results on Three Hills indicate that recoveries in the porous volcanic rocks may exceed 80% on run-of-mine material.

On an adjacent land position, Franco-Nevada Mining (FN-T) and Euro-Nevada Mining

(EN-T) are exploring the 7,840-acre Hasbrouck Mountain property, which contains a reported 7.7 million tons grading 0.036 oz. gold and 0.7 oz.

silver.