Nevada Pacific drills Limousine Butte

Junior Nevada Pacific Gold (NPG-V) has renewed drilling at its Limousine Butte project in east-central Nevada.

The 1,600-metre program will consist of eight holes in the Resurrection Ridge area, where upwards of 11 grams over 10.7 metres was intersected in previous drilling. The highest grades occurred at the intersection of northwestern- and northeastern-trending faults, so similar targets will be emphasized in the current campaign.

Resurrection Ridge is one of five disseminated gold deposits known to occur at the 40-sq.-km property. All are related to a deap-seated porphyritic intrusion and remain open to expansion.

In 2002, Newmont Mining (nem-n) estimated combined resources at 38.5 million tonnes grading 0.55 gram, based on a cutoff grade of 0.2 gram. Prior to that, in the 1980s, then-owners Alta Gold and Echo Bay Mines recovered just under 100,000 oz. from a heap-leach operation at the northeastern corner of the property.

Earlier this year, Nevada Pacific regained full control of the project after Newmont sold its half-interest in return for a sliding-scale net smelter return royalty, including an advanced payment of US$1 million if commercial production is achieved. The major earned its stake in 1999 by spending the required US$1 million on exploration.

In related news, Nevada Pacific has obtained encouraging values from a first pass of its Buffalo Canyon propery in Nye Cty. Upwards of 16.87 grams gold were found in the 65 samples taken.

The samples were collected from a package of hornfelsed and silicified sedimentary and metavolcanic rocks that was drill-tested in the early 1990s. Results from the 17 vertical reverse-circulation holes, which were collared to test a large soil anomaly, varied from 0.017 oz. over 155 ft. to 0.027 oz. over 130 ft.

Mineralization is associated with pervasive stockworking of chlorite, quartz, calcite and sulphide-bearing veins. The highest grades came from local areas of moderate-to-strong potassic alteration and banded quartz veins.

The showing lies northwest of a quartz-diorite intrusion. That too yielded anomalous gold in the recent program, suggesting an association between the two.

Surface work and geophysical surveying are under way, and drilling will follow.