White Knight drills project

White Knight Resources (WKR-V) will conduct a 15,000-ft., 10-hole drilling program at the Squaw Creek gold project, in the northern part of Nevada’s Carlin trend.

The US$300,000-campaign will be funded by the company’s partner, Chapleau Resources (chi-v). Chapleau is earning a half-interest in the 9,880-acre property in return for spending US$1.5 million by 2001.

The drilling will target lower-plate rocks of the Roberts Mountain thrust, buried beneath volcanic cover between the Ivanhoe deposit, held by Great Basin Gold (GBG-V), and Franco-Nevada Mining‘s (FN-T) Ken Snyder mine.

White Knight is also in the late stages of permitting for a short drilling program at the Lone Mountain gold prospect, in the southern Independence range, north of Elko. Kennecott Minerals, a division of London-based Rio Tinto (RTP-N) and White Knight’s partner on the property, expects to complete up to six holes. The program follows up on last year’s drilling, which returned anomalous gold values.

Elsewhere in Nevada, White Knight and Chapleau are preparing to drill the Indian Ranch gold property on the Battle Mountain-Eureka trend. Here, too, the company is targeting lower-plate rocks under volcanic cover.

The company has high hopes for the property. “It is the first discovery of a new window [into lower-plate rocks] since the Pipeline discovery,” says White Knight Chairman John Leask. “We’ve got the right rocks in a good address.”