Romarco slips through the door in Battle Mountain district

The land package currently held by Romarco Minerals (CDN) in the Battle Mountain-Eureka Trend was acquired at a time when numerous mining companies were fleeing the state over fears of drastic changes proposed for the U.S. Mining Law.

The exodus created an opportunity for the company to grow, President Joseph Van Bastelaar told The Northern Miner during a recent tour through central Nevada.

Citing a report from the Nevada Bureau of Mines & Geology, he said that in 1993 the number of active mining claims dropped dramatically. The claims lapsed, and suddenly a host of properties around Nevada were made available. As Van Bastelaar sees it, the door was left for entrepreneurial junior companies to waltz in.

He added that while the number of active claims remained low in 1994, gold production in the state reached an all-time high of 6.8 million oz.

“You can prove up an orebody faster in Nevada than in Canada,” he asserted.

Since 1993, the Toronto-based junior has amassed an impressive portfolio of gold properties in the state. Much of the attention being heaped on the company is due to its holdings adjacent to the Midas joint venture, where Toronto-listed royalty sisters Franco-Nevada Mining and Euro-Nevada Mining recently discovered a 2.5-million-oz. gold deposit. Romarco controls 350 acres in the Midas area.

Still, Van Bastelaar reserves most of his enthusiasm for Romarco’s Crescent Valley projects.

One of these, a 50-50 joint venture with Uranerz USA, comprises more than 6,200 acres in the Orbit and Utah Camp gold properties. The Orbit is situated in the hills immediately overlooking the pit at the Gold Acres mine, owned by Placer Dome (TSE). And from the Orbit’s hilltop vantage point, Placer Dome’s Pipeline and South Pipeline projects are easily visible.

The Orbit has potential for deep-seated mineralization comparable to that found at both Gold Acres and Pipeline. Indeed, numerous faults mapped at the Orbit run parallel to the Gold Acres fault, and may point to similar controls to mineralization.

The Orbit is on the trend of an aeromagnetic anomaly that extends northwest of Gold Acres and reflects a buried intrusive, where Romarco and Uranerz have begun an 8,000-ft. drill program. Previous holes encountered ore-grade mineralization at a depth of 1,200 ft.

Romarco’s other Crescent Valley properties include its wholly owned Grey Eagle property, northwest of the Robertson project which is controlled by Amax Gold (NYSE) and Coral Gold (VSE). “I’m excited about it,” said Van Bastelaar. “I believe it will be a mine.”

The Grey Eagle produced high-grade gold and silver from a quartz vein system around the turn of the century. Today, nine such vein systems are known to exist on the property. Contributing to the project’s potential are the shallow, gold-bearing carbonate rocks that are present in the lower plate of the Roberts Mountain thrust.

The nearby Nike property (another 50-50 joint venture with Uranerz) consists of several disconnected claim blocks south of the Lone Tree gold mine of Santa Fe Pacific Gold (NYSE). A large portion of the property is concealed by alluvium, and the few outcrops hint at mineralization buried beneath the overburden. Drilling began in October, with a minimum of 5,000 ft. scheduled.

The Clipper mine, immediately west of the Orbit-Utah Camp property, is also a highly prospective silver-lead-zinc target, with anomalous gold and copper values.

Romarco also owns a large claim block, the Cortez Pediment property, in the centre of the valley.