Consolidated Nevada finds more Alaskan gold

Exploration in the vicinity of the Nixon Fork gold mine, near McGrath, Alaska, has uncovered a low-grade gold occurrence.

Consolidated Nevada Goldfields (KNV-T) reports that drilling has confirmed the presence of gold beneath a soil anomaly 1 mile east of the Nixon Fork mine. Hole 3, drilled on the southwestern edge of a 2,400-by-300-ft.

gold-in-soil anomaly, encountered 108 ft. of mineralization at a grade of 0.03 oz. gold per ton. The mineralization is hosted in the Nixon Fork stock.

Meanwhile, at the company’s Nixon Fork mine, which is producing gold from skarn mineralization around the edges of the stock, minable reserves have increased by 35,650 tons grading 1.07 oz. gold.

Development drilling at the mine’s Crystal Garnet zone has thus far extended the C-3000 deposit to a depth of 642 ft. below surface.

At the same time, the company is conducting district-wide exploration over its 56,000-acre land position. An aero-magnetic survey has identified several major anomalies for further evaluation. At Eagle Creek (6 miles from the mine), grid sampling has confirmed the presence of skarn mineralization similar to that found at Nixon Fork.

In other company news, the junior has released a new resource figure for the Martinez deposit at its Aurora gold mine in Nevada. The new figure, 1.2 million tons grading 0.092 oz. gold, is nearly double the previously reported grade. The deposit remains open to the northeast.

In August, shareholders of Consolidated Nevada approved the agreement to merge with Grupo Real del Monte. The deal is to be completed in the near future.

For the 1996 fiscal year, which ended June 30, Consolidated Nevada reported a loss of US$6.8 million (or 14 cents per share) on revenue of US$17.4 million, compared with a loss of US$5.8 million (14 cents per share) on US$8.6 million for fiscal 1995.