Corvus Gold Begins Aggressive 20,000 Metre Drill Program at North Bullfrog Project, Nevada
Corvus Gold Inc. has started its first phase, 20,000-metre, 2013 North area drill program at the North Bullfrog project, Nevada. The program will utilize core drilling to follow up on high-grade and stockwork vein systems in the Yellow Jacket zone, a reverse circulation (RC) drill program designed to expand the bulk-tonnage resource focusing on recent higher-grade zones and a water well rig to complete the environmental baseline monitor well network for future permitting activities.
As outlined in the 2013 exploration program announced on April 9, 2013, drilling will focus on:
- The expansion of the recently discovered Yellow Jacket zone and other associate structural zones to determine size and shape of the high-grade gold and silver mineralization; previous results in this zone including: NB 12-138 — 72.4 metres of 1.74 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) and 98.7 g/t silver (Ag) including 4.3 metres of 20.0 g/t Au and 1,519 g/t Ag; NB 12-183 — 71.6 metres of 1.40 g/t Au and 28.9 g/t Ag, including 8.9 metres of 5.4 g/t Au and 129 g/t Ag;
- The expansion potential of a recently discovered higher-grade, potential starter pit targets north and to the west of the currently defined Sierra Blanca deposit; previous results in this area including: NB-12-117 — 51.8 metres of 0.80 g/t Au located west of the existing Sierra Blanca resource; NB-12-118 — 45.7 metres of 0.56 g/t Au located northwest of the existing Sierra Blanca resource NB-12-119, 48.8 metres of 0.50 g/t Au located north of the existing Sierra Blanca resource; NB-12-123, 139 metres of 0.27 g/t Au located north of the existing Jolly Jane resource.
Jeff Pontius, chief executive officer, stated: “We are very excited to begin our follow-up drilling at our new discoveries at the North Bullfrog project. Our new Yellow Jacket zone is of particular interest as it represents a new Nevada high-grade gold and silver discovery. The potential starter pit targets offer potential to add substantial early mining ounces to the already plus-one-million-ounce gold oxide resource, further enhancing the North Bullfrog mining project.”
About the North Bullfrog project, Nevada
Corvus controls 100 per cent of its North Bullfrog project, which covers approximately 68 square kilometres in southern Nevada just north of the historic Bullfrog gold mine formerly operated by Barrick Gold Corp. The property package is made up of a number of leased patented federal mining claims and 758 federal unpatented mining claims. The project has excellent infrastructure, being adjacent to a major highway and power corridor. The company’s independent consultants completed a robust positive preliminary economic assessment on the existing resource in December, 2012.
The project currently includes numerous prospective gold targets with four (Mayflower, Sierra Blanca, Jolly Jane and Connection) containing an estimated indicated resource of 15 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.37 g/t gold for 182,577 ounces of gold and an inferred resource of 156 million tonnes at 0.28 g/t gold for 1,410,096 ounces of gold (both at a 0.2 g/t cut-off), with appreciable silver credits. Mineralization occurs in two primary forms: broad strata-bound bulk-tonnage gold zones such as the Sierra Blanca and Jolly Jane systems; and moderately thick zones of high-grade gold and silver mineralization hosted in structural feeder zones with breccias and quartz-sulphide vein stockworks such as the Mayflower and Yellowjacket targets. The company is actively pursuing both types of mineralization.
A video of the North Bullfrog project showing location, infrastructure access and 2010 winter drilling is available on the company’s website. For details with respect to the assumptions underlying the current resource estimate and preliminary economic analysis, see the technical report entitled “Technical report and preliminary economic assessment for the Mayflower and North mine areas at the North Bullfrog project, Bullfrog mining district, Nye county, Nevada,” dated Dec. 6, 2012, and available under the company’s profile at SEDAR.
Qualified person and quality control/quality assurance
Jeffrey A. Pontius (CPG 11044), a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information (other than the resource estimate) that form the basis for this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Pontius is not independent of Corvus, as he is the chief executive officer and holds common shares and incentive stock options.
Gary Giroux, MSc, PEng (B.C.), a consulting geological engineer employed by Giroux Consultants Ltd., has acted as the qualified person, as defined in NI 43-101, for the Giroux Consultants Ltd. mineral resource estimate. He has over 30 years of experience in all stages of mineral exploration, development and production. Mr. Giroux specializes in computer applications in ore reserve estimation, and has consulted both nationally and internationally in this field. He has authored many papers on geostatistics and ore reserve estimation and has practiced as a geological engineer since 1970 and provided geostatistical services to the industry since 1976. Both Mr. Giroux and Giroux Consultants Ltd. are independent of the company under NI 43-101.
The work program at North Bullfrog was designed and supervised by Russell Myers (CPG 11433), president of Corvus, and Mark Reischman, Corvus Nevada exploration manager, who are responsible for all aspects of the work, including the quality control/quality assurance program. On-site personnel at the project log and track all samples prior to sealing and shipping. Quality control is monitored by the insertion of blind certified standard reference materials and blanks into each sample shipment. All resource sample shipments are sealed and shipped to ALS Chemex in Reno, Nev., for preparation and then on to ALS Chemex in Reno, Nev., or Vancouver, B.C., for assaying. ALS Chemex’s quality system complies with the requirements for the International Standards ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 17025:1999. Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored by the analysis of reagent blanks, reference material and replicate samples. Finally, representative blind duplicate samples are forwarded to ALS Chemex and an ISO-compliant third party laboratory for additional quality control.
