New Bulk Tonnage Style Gold Discovery At Viper Project
VANCOUVER, BC - Pilot Gold Inc. reported a new bulk tonnage style gold discovery in northeastern Elko County, Nevada. The first five holes ever drilled on the Company's 100% owned Viper Project have intersected widespread, sediment hosted, oxide gold and silver mineralization starting at surface.
Intervals were calculated using a 0.20 g/t gold cutoff and maximum 3 meters of internal waste. True thickness of intercepts is unknown at this time due to the presence of both high and low angle controls on mineralization. Pilot Gold employs a rigorous quality control system by inserting a blank, standard or duplicate into the sample stream for every 10 drill samples. All gold values reported are 30 gram Fire Assay with Atomic Absorption finish. All assays were performed by ALS Chemex at their Reno and Vancouver labs following preparation in the Elko lab.
"The results at Viper are significant, as they share similarities with classic sediment-hosted replacement deposits in Nevada and, along with our Brik Project, mark the second new drill discovery made in Nevada by the Pilot Gold team in 2011. Our strategy of focusing regional exploration efforts off-trend is producing excellent results," said Matt Lennox-King, President and CEO. These first five holes were drilled at the Baja Target where the gold and silver mineralization zone is controlled in part by high angle epithermal veins, as well as a near horizontal stratigraphic contact between calcareous sandstone and underlying limestone. Similar to mineralized zones at Long Canyon, receptive horizons at the top of the limestone, as well as within it, are strongly affected by decarbonatization, hematite, scorodite and jarosite flooding and jasperoidal replacement, particularly proximal to the epithermal quartz-calcite veins. Pilot Gold's 2011 drilling campaign at Viper totaled 3,364 meters in 18 reverse circulation (RC) drill holes: 7 holes on the northern Baja Target, and 11 holes on selected targets to the south, within a large area of quartz veining, alteration and elevated gold in rock samples that measures in excess of 1.5 kilometers in a north-south direction by 700 meters in an east-west direction. Additional target areas will be subject to future drilling. Assays are pending for 11 holes in the southern area as well as two follow up holes at the Baja Target. Viper lies along the northern edge of the Long Canyon Trend in northeast Nevada in an area that has seen very little exploration, and was generated through grass roots exploration by the Pilot Gold team, while exploring for Long Canyon style targets in 2009. The Viper Project totals 1,836 hectares, which is comprised of 831 hectares of private mineral rights owned and leased by Pilot Gold and 1,004 hectares of unpatented lode claims on land administered by the BLM and controlled by Pilot Gold. On the heels of the Brik discovery in July of this year, the Viper discovery marks the second new drill discovery made in Nevada by the Pilot Gold team in 2011.