Romarco drills Nevada gold-silver property

Vancouver – A past-producing gold property in Nevada’s Walker Lane mineral belt will be tested by a first-phase drilling program operated by Romarco Minerals (R-V).

The Pine Grove project hosts the historic Rockland mine, which produced about 35,000 oz. gold-equivalent with grades of 2.6 oz. gold and 50.1 oz. silver per ton from banded epithermal veins. The geological setting of the property is described as similar to the nearby Sleeper and Midas bonanza-vein districts.

The Pine Grove property saw limited exploration by previous operators, with work directed at bulk-minable, low-grade open-pit targets. Previous drilling intersected 100 ft. grading 0.04 oz. gold, including 10 ft. of 0.18 oz., but did not test depths below 600 ft. or test the vein targets on the property.

Romarco intends to drill 5,000 feet of rotary-reverse circulation drilling in five holes to test two main target areas. The company will test the vein targets that outcrop on surface and have been drill-tested, and also carry out follow-up drilling of targets identified by previous operators in the 1990s.

Romarco holds an option to earn 60% of the Pine Grove property by spending US$2 million on exploration and covering costs previously incurred by vendor Toquima Minerals US. Once this earn-in is complete, Romarco has the option to increase its interest to 70% by committing to advance the project to final feasibility within a 3-year timeframe.

Romarco has other properties in Nevada, and will soon begin drilling the Cori Puncho gold project in southern Peru, with equal partner New Dimension Resources (NDR-V) (formerly NDT Ventures). The joint venture partners plan to drill at least 1,000 metres to test a gold-bearing structural zone that has never been drill-tested, but where locals have been mining gold on surface.

Cori Puncho covers the majority of a 5-km-long structural zone that is believed to have potential for large bulk-minable and underground gold deposits. The property is within 15 km of a paved highway, and about an hour’s drive from the community of Juliaca.