Further Expansion Of High-Grade Zone North Of Atlanta Pit
VANCOUVER Nevada King Gold Corp. reported on four vertical, reverse circulation (RC) holes and one vertical, PQ-diameter diamond core hole completed in the northern portion of the West Atlanta Graben Zone (WAGZ) at its at its 5,166 hectares (51.6km2) Atlanta Gold Mine Project, located in Battle Mountain Trend 264km northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. Mineralization occurs along near-horizontal horizons with true mineralized thicknesses estimated to be 85% to 95% of reported drill intercept length.
Core hole AT23WS-23C.1 intercepted 4.51 g/t Au over 86.3m including 7.77 g/t Au over 48.6m and was collared 6m north of RC hole AT23WS-23, which intercepted 2.45 g/t Au over 102.1m. AT23WS-23C.1 was planned to provide metallurgical material for the ongoing Phase II test work program, as well as to verify the RC drilling. While core hole AT23WS-23C.1 shows a 60% increase in overall grade, a comparison of gold distribution in AT23WS-23C.1. With AT23WS-23 reveals close lateral correlation. This is particularly evident when comparing elevations of the upper high-grade zones and the lower high-grade zones. The sub-horizontal geometry of these zones suggests higher grade mineralization along low-angle bedding features or breccia horizons.
The high-grade intercepts in AT23WS-23C.1 and adjacent AT23WS-23 also add definition to a developing, northwest-trending high-grade zone along the axis of the WAGZ that currently spans 200m long by 70m wide.
Relative to the location of AT23WS-23C.1, other previously reported holes of note within this zone include: 1) AT23WS-44 (11.64 g/t Au over 108.2m) located 56m southeast. 2) AT23WS-53 (2.72 g/t Au over 64m) located 34m to south. 3) AT23WS-62 (6.09 g/t Au over 41.5m) located 41m southwest.4) AT23WS-34 (1.74 g/t Au over 114.3m) located 82m to the southeast. 5) AT23WS-56 (1.55 g/t Au over 94.5m) located 108m southeast.
At least two high-grade feeder zones appear to be responsible for this well mineralized zone. Holes AT23WS-23C.1, AT23WS-44, AT23WS-34, and AT23WS-56 most likely share the same NW-trending basement structure, whereas AT23WS-62 probably tapped into a different structure with a different orientation. It is also important to note the high proportion of holes that bottomed in mineralization and did not fully penetrate both of the high-grade horizons described. The Company is currently re-drilling these holes along the NW trend connecting AT23WS-23C.1 and AT23WS-44 in order to obtain representative Au/Ag grade averages through the entire mineralized sequence.
Holes AT23WS-58 and AT23WS-59 intercepted 0.75 g/t Au over 83.8m and 0.86 g/t Au over 61.7m, respectively, filling in a previously untested 45m-wide gap between the WAGZ and the Atlanta Mine Fault Zone (AMFZ). Both holes extend the thick mineralization found in the centre of the WAGZ eastward to the West Atlanta Fault, thus building additional tonnage potential.
AT23WS-61 (50.3m of 1.56 g/t Au) was lost just short of entering the lower high-grade zone, but the hole did demonstrate continuance of the thick mineralization seen in the middle of the WAGZ westward to the West Atlanta Fault #2 (WAF2), which bounds the western margin of the WAGZ. This is particularly important when taking into account the low-grade intercepts in two historical holes located only 32m west of AT23WS-61 but on the western side of the WAF2. Neither DHRI-11-15C (67.1m @ 0.28 g/t Au) nor DHRI-11-NRC01 (27.4m @ 0.42 g/t Au) indicated potential for the thick, much higher-grade mineralization encountered in AT23WS-61, much less in the centre of the WAGZ.
Cal Herron, Exploration Manager, said, "The Company's multiple structure model continues to lead to thick, high-grade mineralized zones. In addition to following high-angle structures that served as loci for higher grade Au-Ag mineralization, Nevada King's success at increasing both grade and thickness can also be attributed to achieving full penetration of the low-angle unconformity that hosts most of the mineralization at Atlanta. The occurrence of two separate, sub-horizontal high-grade horizons is replicated throughout the Atlanta system but is most often observed in the WAFZ where the deeper high-grade occurs in the carbonate section at or directly above the unconformable basement contact, while the shallower high-grade is hosted in the volcanic sequence above the unconformity. Higher grade and thicker intercepts occur close to feeder structures controlling the mineralization, while grades decrease and thin laterally away from the feeders."