NEVADA — Cortez partners aim to extend Pipeline mineralization — Exploration program will test potential of Coral Gold’s Robertson property

The Cortez joint venture will attempt to extend its Pipeline deposit by exploring on the Robertson property of Vancouver-based Coral Gold (CLH-V)

According to Louis Wolfin, president of Coral, the Cortez joint venture need look no farther than the southern boundary of the Robertson to glimpse the future of its US$250-Million Pipeline project. He theorizes that mineralized extensions exist on the Robertson ground, which is immediately north of the Pipeline.

The Cortez joint venture consists of Placer Dome (PDG-T) and Kennecott, with 60% and 40% interests, respectively.

The partners have entered an agreement to explore Coral’s 14,000-Acre property, which contains mapped, northerly extending structures that are believed to contain minable quantities of high-grade gold.

Coral optioned the Robertson property in 1990 to Amax Gold, which concentrated its efforts on developing a low-grade, bulk-Minable target on the Porphyry zone. However, the Denver-based major returned the property to Coral last year after outlining only 13.6 million tons grading 0.019 oz. per ton, equivalent to 250,000 contained ounces.

The Cortez partners recently purchased Amax’s option to acquire a 51% interest in 200 of the 754 claims that constitute the Robertson property.

These are the nearest claims to the Pipeline property and were still held by Amax through a back-in agreement.

Wolfin expects further negotiations with the joint venture to result in a property-wide deal similar to the one struck with Amax.

.SDeep drilling

According to Wolfin, Cortez plans to spend US$6 million on exploration over the next two years. Of that, US$2.5 million will be spent during the first year, primarily on deep drilling.

According to Chris Sampson, Coral’s consulting engineer, the best ore hosts in the Pipeline area are found where northwest-Trending faults intersect with northeast-Trending faults within the Roberts Mountain formation — in particular, within a flat-lying brecciated zone within the unit. The conceptual model for this is the Meikle mine of Barrick Gold, situated in the Carlin trend.

The agreement also entitles Coral to continue evaluating the shallow oxide potential of the remainder of the property.

The junior acquired the property in 1986 whereupon it outlined a reserve of 11 million tons averaging 0.04 oz. gold per ton. Coral commenced a heap-leach operation in 1988, though the operation was shut down after production results did not live up to expectations.

Coral will explore the central area, which includes three targets: 39A, Gold Pan and Widow’s Mine. The junior has also allocated $400,000 for geophysical surveys and the drilling of 40 holes over 24,000 ft. on the Triplet Gulch area. Another $150,000 is earmarked for the Gold Quartz area, which was not explored by Amax. In all, Coral plans to spend $1 million exploring these targets in 1997.

No work will be conducted on the Porphyry and Altenburg Hill zones, which were thoroughly drilled by Amax.