Infill drilling by Kinross Gold (K-T) on the Main zone of the Goldbanks project, near Winnemucca, Nev., indicates a substantially larger gold resource than previously estimated.
The new figure, estimated from 35,000 metres of new core and reverse-circulation (RC) drilling, stands at 132 million tonnes grading 1 gram gold per tonne, for a contained resource of 4.2 million oz. gold. The resource is cut off at a grade of 0.38 gram, but an additional 260-million-tonne resource, encompassing blocks with gold grades of 0.17-0.38 gram, indicates an average grade of 0.24 gram.
Kinross credits the new drilling, on 15-to-25-metre spacings, with intersecting zones of higher-grade mineralization that previous drilling, on 45-metre spacings, had missed. Material from this phase of drilling was analyzed using cyanide extraction, which allows for better estimation of grades when gold is erratically distributed. The results would seem to confirm earlier tests that suggested the mineralization is mainly coarse (100 microns or larger) and that only large samples would give reproducible assay results.
More than half of the closely spaced holes intersected 3-12 metres of gold mineralization, with grades of between 5 and 127 grams. Ongoing drilling is confirming the higher gold grade, and Kinross expects to have a new resource figure in hand soon.
At the KW zone, 3 km northwest of the Main zone, similar results have been reported from RC drilling.
Kinross has also discovered two new mineralized zones on the property, both of which have been drilled on 100-to-300-metre spacings.
The BEX showing, like other zones on the property, is hosted in a clastic breccia, whereas the PC zone shows a similar style of mineralization in a quartz porphyry.
The BEX, situated west of the Main zone, measures 1 by 1.5 km in area and features mineralization 30-240 metres thick at vertical depths of 120-230 metres. Grades are in the range of 0.17-17 grams gold and 7-70 grams silver, and RC drilling is under way, with core drilling expected to follow.
At the PC showing, 500 metres northeast of the KW zone, Kinross has outlined an area of gold-silver-copper mineralization 330 metres long and 120-330 metres wide. Drill intersections indicate a thickness of 12-45 metres and grades of 0.1-2% copper, 0.17-5 grams gold and 3.4-100 grams silver.
Early metallurgical tests on material from the PC zone show that, although the metals are not heap-leachable, a good flotation concentrate can be made.
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