New structures kick at Goldfield (April 19, 2004)

Drilling on a newly-interpreted structural trend at the Goldfield gold deposit in western Nevada suggests new resources may shape up for Metallic Ventures Gold (MVG-T).

The company recently drilled a series of infill reverse-circulation holes on the McMahon Ridge prospect at Goldfields. These holes followed a structural trend that its geologists had interpreted from earlier closely spaced drilling on the zone.

The new holes intersected gold mineralization along the interpreted structure, indicating that new resources are present between previously discovered zones.

The mineralization was mainly intersected over drilled lengths of 1.5 to 6 metres, and showed grades of 1 to 4 grams gold per tonne. There were, however, some zones of much higher-grade material, including a 4.6-metre interval in hole MCM-333 that graded 28.7 grams gold per tonne, an 18.3-metre interval in hole MCM-339 that graded 61.7 grams per tonne, and a 4.6-metre interval in hole MCM-344 running 98.4 grams per tonne.

Reverse-circulation drilling in the Main District, about 5 km southwest of McMahon Ridge, tested down-dip from known mineralization at vertical depths of 240 to 300 metres. Three holes intersected fractures belonging to the deposit’s ring-fault system, which has long been known to be a principal structural control on the gold mineralization.

Of the three holes, VT-2 was the most successful, intersecting multiple zones of gold and copper mineralization at depths of 255 to 290 metres. One intersection graded an average 3.6 grams gold per tonne and 0.57% copper over 10.7 metres, another cut 2.9 grams gold and 0.43% copper over 4.3 metres, and a third ran 2.5 grams gold and 0.1% copper over 35.1 metres. The last intersection included a 3-metre interval grading 13.2 grams gold per tonne, with 0.18% copper.

Hole PV-1 intersected 4.6 metres grading 5.8 grams gold per tonne plus 1.03% copper, while a third hole, CL-1, cut 6.1 metres grading 1.4 grams gold per tonne.

Metallic Ventures also tested an area about halfway between McMahon Ridge and the Gemfield deposit, which is 5 km southwest of McMahon Ridge and about 3 kim northwest of the Main District. Most reverse-circulation holes in the area intersected gold mineralization in the same formation it occurs in at Gemfield. Grades were mainly in the 0.5-gram to 3-gram range, with local higher-grade intersections.

Drilling on proposed road, mill, and leach pad sites, to confirm that there is no mineralization there, is mainly finished and the company plans to have enough information for a production decision before the end of the year.