Cortez expands Crossroads

Denver — Infill drilling at the Crossroads deposit in central Nevada has returned significant, albeit deep, mineralization for the Cortez joint venture. The project is part of the Pipeline complex.

Placer Dome (PDG-N), which operates Pipeline through a 60% interest in the Cortez joint venture, has drilled 69 holes at Crossroads in 2001 to date. In the process, it has expanded the deposit to 2,200 ft. 1,900 ft. However, mineralization sits more than 600 ft. below the surface.

Highlights from the program include 210 ft. of mineralization grading 0.11 oz. per ton in hole 907, starting at a depth of 1,210 ft. below the surface.

Other results are as follows:

– Hole 928 cut two zones of mineralization, consisting of 60 ft. grading 0.045 oz. per ton at a depth of 870. Farther down, the hole cut 100 ft. of 0.2 oz. per ton at a depth of 1,120 ft.

– Starting at 820 ft., hole 1023 hit 230 ft. of 0.14 oz. per ton, followed by another 129 ft. of 0.052, starting at 1,330 ft.

– Hole 1024 intercepted 360 ft. of 0.14 oz. per ton, starting at 730 ft.

– Hole 1025 hit 110 ft. of 0.21 oz. per ton, starting at 730 ft.

Mineralization at Crossroads is similar to the nearby South Pipeline deposit, where gold production began this summer.

The Cortez joint venture expects to produce 1.1 million oz. in 2001. The remaining 40% stake in the project is held by Kennecott Exploration (Australia), a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto (RTP-N).

Recent drilling is expected to boost the current resource estimate of 559,000 oz. contained in 12.7 million tons averaging 0.044 oz. per ton.