U.S. Precious Metals gets 25% of Hilltop

U.S. Precious Metals has decided to exercise its right to earn a 25% interest in the Hilltop gold property near Battle Mountain, Nev.

After investigating the property and examining the core from some 27,000 ft of drilling, the company is confident that the original reserve estimate established by Gulf Resources is accurate. That figure, which classifies ore as geological reserves only, stands at 10.35 million tons grading 0.073 oz gold per ton.

“There is, however, a high probability of increasing those reserves significantly,” says President David T. Reesor.

A new drilling program planned for the property will concentrate on bringing reserves into the proven category by closing the gaps between drill holes. Field scale tests will then be conducted to determine optimum gold recovery techniques. Mr Reesor estimates that the earliest possible date for production from the property would be 1988.

In an earlier report, the company said the 2,400-acre property coul d support a 3.3-million-ton- per-year open pit mine with head grades of 0.051 oz gold per ton.

U.S. Precious Metals, which is listed in Vancouver, can earn a 50% interest in the property by spending $750,000 (US) and paying property vendor Ruskin Developments of Vancouver an additional $200,000.

Since the company announced it had cleared certain legal hurdles for acquiring the interest in the ground, its shares have traded at about $4.00, up 30 cents since last month.