Barrick keeps growing in Nevada

As Barrick Gold (ABX-T, ABX-N) steps up exploration efforts at its Cortez, Turquoise Ridge and Ruby Hill projects in Nevada, it has uncovered two new gold discoveries.

The Red Hill and Goldrush discoveries were made on the company’s wholly owned Cortez property, which covers 2,800 sq. km of the highly prospective Carlin trend. The two deposits are 6 km southeast of the Cortez Hills mine and 24 km southeast of the Pipeline mine.

After conducting wide-spaced drilling in the area, Barrick outlined two gold zones over a 7-km-long trend.

“Our exploration team was able to draw on deep knowledge and expertise of Carlin-style systems to identify the concealed Red Hill and Goldrush deposits,” Rob Krcmarov, Barrick’s senior vice-president of exploration, said in a press release.

The gold producer initially drilled Red Hill to test for deeper sulphide mineralization, when it came across a favourable carbonate stratigraphy. It then delineated an inferred resource of 3.5 million gold oz. from 28.7 million tons grading 0.12 oz. gold per ton  at Red Hill. 

“The current resource of 3.5 million ounces is just the beginning of what appears to be the next giant gold deposit in the Cortez camp,” Krcmarov noted in an investor presentation on Sept. 7. He added the company could be on the verge of one of the most significant new discoveries in Nevada since Cortez Hills. 

 The deposit, which remains open in all directions, is undergoing an infill and extension drill program to enhance resources.

Some 2 km south of Red Hill, Barrick hit 0.89 oz. gold per ton over 21 metres. After following up on the intercept, it labelled the new mineralized zone “Goldrush.”

Red Hill and Goldrush are similar in geology to the company’s Cortez Hills and Goldstrike mines, also in Nevada. The deposits’ mineralization is hosted in a carbonate unit and has a tabular geometry. Barrick notes that a bulk of the mineralization found to date at the zones is refractory, sitting between 150 and 500 metres depth.

But both deposits contain good grades. The average at Red Hill is 0.12 oz. per ton, whereas Goldrush grades 0.18 oz. per ton, Krcmarov said.

The major has budgeted up to  $390 million for global exploration this year, US$26 million of which will go towards finding the limits of the new Nevada discoveries and drill testing the gap between them.

So far, the company has completed 49,000 metres of the 80,500-metre program on Red Hill and Goldrush.

While both of the deposits remain open in all directions, Krcmarov conceded more work needs to be done, before adding that “these discoveries have the potential to become truly world-class deposits.”

While the miner continues drilling, it is also completing a prefeasibility study at its 75%-owned Turquoise Ridge project, where Newmont Mining (NMC-T, NEM-N) holds the rest. Barrick has billed the 4.2-million-oz. deposit as one of its “next generation” projects. The study is expected to be done late next year.

Barrick’s other Nevada gold assets include: the Bald Mountain mine, 110 km southeast of Elko; the 33%-owned Marigold mine, with Newmont Mining holding the rest, 64 km southeast of Winnemucca; and the fifty-fifty joint-ventured Round Mountain mine with Kinross Gold (K-T, KGC-N), 96 km north of Tonopah in Nye County.