Pace of discovery in the U.S. falls during the year

The number of mineral discoveries in the U.S. during 1997 is down from last year, though Alaska and Nevada continue to provide the best hunting ground.

One of the highlights of the year came from Grayd Resources (GYD-V), which announced a polymetallic discovery in the Bonnefield district of Alaska.

In June, Vancouver-based Grayd came out with news of high-grade mineralization at the Dry Creek property in the Bonnefield district, south of Fairbanks. The fourth hole of the year’s drill program encountered 42 ft.

of massive sulphide mineralization, including 18 ft. averaging 25.9% zinc, 11.7% lead, 10.1 oz. silver and 0.1 oz. gold per ton, and 0.88% copper.

Additional holes have been drilled into Dry Creek, intersecting more massive sulphide material. That exploration work cost US$1.5 million.

The company has an option to acquire 30 sq. miles of property in the Bonnefield district.

Also in Alaska, Ventures Resource (VRS-V) intercepted significant mineralization on several of its properties across the state. In September, the company reported high-grade trenching results from the Eva polymetallic project on the Veta property in southeast Alaska, and also confirmed high-grade surface results at the Wiseman project north of Fairbanks.

In October, Ventures released results from drilling at the Chicken Mountain project, near the town of Flat. Hole 97-16 hit 70 ft. of gold mineralization grading 0.419 oz. per ton.

And most recently, the company turned in favorable results from the Lead Creek project in east central Alaska. Two of the seven holes intersected stratabound massive sulphide mineralization, including 7 ft. grading 4.5 oz.

silver, 7.2% lead and 0.2% zinc in the seventh hole.

>From hole 9, the drill cut 18 ft. of massive sulphide grading 2.6 oz. per ton silver, 2.1% lead and 1.5% zinc, as well as a 9 ft. interval of 1.8 oz.

silver, 2.4% lead and 2.7% zinc.

In all, Ventures completed more than 25,000 ft. of drilling during the year, and spent US$5 million on exploration.

Meanwhile, the pace of discovery in Nevada has slowed as the price of gold has fallen, causing several companies to turn away from the yellow metal.

Nevertheless, Romarco Minerals (R-T), among others, remains active, with several projects on the go around the Great Basin. With its partners, Uranerz USA and Newmont Gold (NGC-N), the company reported a 1 million oz., low-grade resource (50 million tons at 0.02 oz. per ton) at the Converse property in the Battle Mountain trend. Next year’s exploration will focus on the North Red Line deposit, where only five holes have been drilled and bedrock is within 45 ft. of the surface.

Romarco continues to turn out high-grade gold and silver values from its Midas gold property in northern Nevada. The property is surrounded by the Ken Snyder mine property of Franco-Nevada Mining (FN-T) and Euro-Nevada Mining (EN-T).

Drilling at Midas has returned narrow intervals of multi-ounce values, including a 4-ft. interval grading 2.4 oz. gold and 7.9 oz. silver per ton from hole 60. Hole 68 hit 15 ft. grading 4 oz. gold and 44 oz. silver per ton at a depth of 435 ft.

Elsewhere in Nevada, White Knight Resources (WKR-V) and partner Chapleau Resources (CHI-V) encountered 435 ft. of low-grade mineralization (0.017 oz.

gold per ton) at their Indian Ranch property in the Battle Mountain trend.

Although the intercept, from a depth of 235 ft. to 670 ft., doesn’t amount to a major discovery, it appears to indicate that the mineralizing system is large.

Just across the Nevada border into Utah, Clifton Mining (CFB-A) continues to add new mineralization to its polymetallic resource.

The company has located 11 vein structures, some of which have a total length of more than 4,000 ft. Exploration on these structures has increased the known resource on the 5,100-acre Clifton property to 488,000 tons averaging 8.2 oz. silver and 0.04 oz. gold per ton, plus 17.6% lead.

In November, Clifton commenced the startup phase at its 250 ton-per-day mill.

In California, Brush Creek Mining and Development (BCMD-Q) created a stir in Motherlode country with news of high-grade gold mineralization coming from pillars within the lower part of the Brush Creek mine. Values from the first of ten pillars in the mine contained gold samples running more than 500 oz.

gold per ton. The company has since expanded its operation, hiring additional staff within the mine and mill.

Farther afield, Gold Standard (GSTD-Q) is receiving favorable gold numbers from a mile-long structure in Mato Grosso state, Brazil. The structure was identified in September, and by November, the company had started a round of drilling. Results are expected back soon.

Several new U.S.-listed companies emerged this past year to try their hand at mineral exploration.

Following Santa Fe Pacific Gold’s acquisition by Newmont (which left many geologists out of work), several ex-Santa Fe personnel formed a new company to explore for mineral deposits. Rising from these ashes was Golden Phoenix Minerals (GPXM-O), which has since acquired land positions in Nevada and Alaska, notably a large tract of land near Grayd Resources’ Dry Creek property.

Apex Silver Mines (SIL-X) completed its initial public offering in November, raising US$55 million.

Apex Silver is exploring the San Cristobal silver-zinc-lead deposit in southern Bolivia, an open-pit project with proven and probable reserves of 123 million tonnes grading 56 grams silver per tonne, 1.5% zinc and 0.5% lead for 219 million contained ounces silver, 1.8 million tonnes of zinc and 629,000 tonnes of lead.

In Nevada, Cascade Metals (CEM-A) completed its initial public offering. The junior, based in Calgary, is exploring for gold in the Lida district of southwestern Nevada, as well as in the Battle Mountain trend.