Jun 15 2016
Bravada Gold Corporation has received assays for recent drilling at the Company's Baxter Low-sulfidation gold property in the Walker Lane Gold trend in Nevada.
Kinross Gold U.S.A., Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Kinross Gold Corporation ("Kinross") completed 16 reverse-circulation drill holes for a total of 4,439 meters at the Baxter property (see Table I for locations and orientations of holes).
A new zone of gold mineralization was discovered at the Sinter target, one of several target areas partially tested during the recent drilling program. Hole BAX16-13 intersected 6.1m averaging 2.199 grams gold per ton (g/t gold) beginning at 32m depth within a thicker interval of 32.0m averaging 0.880g/t gold. Hole BAX16-14 is collared approximately 180m to the north of BAX16-13 and intersected 10.6m interval of 1.023g/t gold beginning at 54.9m. Other holes in the target area intersected lower grades of gold mineralization at approximately the same horizon and geophysical data suggests mineralization may be controlled by an easterly trending fault (see attached figures). Although delineated by only a few holes to date, the mineralization appears to be relatively flat-lying and open along strike. True thicknesses are estimated to be 65-100% of the reported drill intercepts. Table II lists significant intervals of +0.2g/t Au, although holes in other targets contain narrow intercepts of up to several hundred ppb gold as well. Silver and base metal concentrations are generally very low.
Encouraged by these results, Kinross has initiated permitting for +2,000m of additional reverse-circulation drilling in 10 to 12 shallow holes to test lateral extensions of the shallow mineralization and potentially to provide vectors to high-grade upwelling zones, so called "feeders", which should underlie the high-level, disseminated mineralization. Drilling is expected to begin during July.
In addition to encouragement at the Sinter target, drill hole BAX16-16 provided an initial test of the Rhyolite Peak target, a new and previously undrilled target area with favorable geology and anomalously high concentrations of gold in soil samples. The hole returned a shallow intercept of 1.312g/t gold over 1.5m beginning at 1.5m depth. It is believed that the hole collared near the surface projection of a mineralized structure in this poorly exposed area and continued away from the mineralized structure. A follow-up hole is being planned to test deeper along the structure, which geophysical data appears to delineate.
The Baxter property consists of 240 unpatented lode claims (~1,940 hectares) in the Walker Lane Gold trend of western Nevada. Bravada previously demonstrated extensive low-sulfidation gold and silver mineralization at surface and in relatively shallow reverse-circulation drill holes at several target areas.
Kinross has the option to earn a 60% interest in the property by spending $2.0 million over five years and it can earn an additional 15% interest by spending an additional $2 million on exploration and development expenses over two additional years. Upon Kinross completing its earn-in, Bravada may contribute to expenditures at its percentage of interest or be diluted. Should Bravada's working interest reduce below 10% as a consequence of Kinross contributing Bravada's working interest share of agreed exploration program expenditures, Bravada would convert its working interest to a 1% NSR royalty (see NR-01-15 dated February 3, 2015).
President Joe Kizis commented, "Baxter is another example of Bravada's ability to recognize opportunities in relatively inexpensive, early-stage exploration properties and to advance them to groups best suited to extract value for our mutual benefit. In addition to future cash flow from the Company's barite royalty at Shoshone Pediment and the significant gold and silver resource that we have defined at Wind Mountain, we believe that Baxter will add significant value for Bravada's shareholders."
Sample preparation and quality control
Supervision and organization of reverse-circulation drilling samples were undertaken by Kinross personnel. Samples were collected at five-foot intervals from a rotating wet splitter. Chip-tray samples were collected from the reject side of the splitter and the splitter was adjusted to produce 10 to 20 pounds of sample for assay. Samples were collected from the drill in cloth bags by employees of Boart Longyear under the supervision of Kinross personnel and contractors. Samples were logged and catalogued by Kinross geologists and stored in a secure location. Certified reference standards were placed in the sample stream of each drill hole at random intervals. Blank material was also inserted at random intervals. Duplicate pulps of random samples were created and assayed to check for consistency in sample prep.
Assay techniques
Preparation of the samples was done at Bureau Veritas' facility in Reno, Nevada. A 500-gram master pulp was taken, and then splits were assayed by Bureau Veritas in Reno, Nevada and Vancouver, B.C. A 30-gram pulp was analyzed for gold by fire assay and various composites or individual samples were analyzed by 59-element package using four-acid digestion with ICP-MS.
Laboratory quality assurance/quality control
Quality control samples from the lab include numerous control blanks, duplicates and standards. Reference standards used include OxC109, OxD73 and SN60. No issues were noted with analytical accuracy or precision.
Bureau Veritas' Reno and Vancouver locations have ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accreditation.