Radius Gold Inc. is pleased to provide an update on recent activities in Nevada and other parts, including the staking of claims in the Aurora-Borealis Corridor within the historic Aurora Gold district and the ongoing evaluation of the Spring Peak Property.
ABC Property, Aurora-Borealis Corridor, Nevada
Radius Gold has recently staked 122 contiguous federal mining claims (the "ABC Property") covering approximately 992 hectares in the historic Walker Lane Gold Trend in Mineral County, Nevada. The ABC Property is located along the structural trend that hosts the historic Aurora mining district, the Borealis mine and the historic Bodie mining camp in California. The gold deposits in the Aurora-Borealis-Bodie district occur as both high grade vein-hosted low sulphidation deposits (Aurora, Bodie), and as high-sulphidation alunite-kaolinite gold-deposits (Borealis). Total historical precious metal production along this approx. 32 kilometer trend, from the mid-19th century to the mid-1990s, has been estimated at 4.0 million ounces Au, and 11.2 million ounces Ag (1).
The ABC Property covers seven kilometers of what management believes to be an untested portion of the structure that acted as the plumbing system for these gold deposits, and is covered by thin extrusive trachyandesites of the Aurora Volcanic Field. It is Radius's belief that no previous operator in the area has attempted to identify the regional structure beneath these extrusive flows.
Mineralization
The ages of mineralization with the district span 6 million years (Ma) (Bodie 8.5 Ma, Aurora 10.5 Ma (2) and Borealis 4.5 Ma (3), evidencing a long-lived structure that has facilitated significant fluid flow and produced three significant gold deposits. Radius believes the long-lived and well-mineralized nature of this structure make the covered untested sections compelling areas to explore for blind high-grade gold deposits.
Both oxidized and gold-sulphide deposits occur within the district, with gold-sulphide mineralization occurring at the bottom of most pits, the most significant of which is beneath the Freedom Flats deposit (4). Previous operators of the Borealis mine also believe that potential high-grade feeder structure remain beneath existing pits. Drilling of these zones has intercepted spectacular grade and thickness, in particular, the Freedom Flats area, including (4):
FF-50 with 18.3 m averaging 7.95 g/t Au
FF-173 with 16.8 m averaging 17.55 g/t Au
FF-223 with 6.2 m averaging 16.11 g/t Au
FF-229 with 33.5 m averaging 29.35 g/t Au
Radius is targeting relatively shallow high-grade targets, similar to those observed at the Freedom Flats deposit, using IP to delineate new targets. IP has been successfully used in the area to identify buried targets in the Borealis mine area.
Spring Peak Property, Nevada
Radius continues its ongoing evaluation of the Spring Peak Property recently optioned from Kinetic Gold (for Option terms see news release - June 14, 2016). This has included sampling of sinter terraces and vein float on the Property, prospecting along the structure of interest and a soil sampling survey (100m x 25m grid orientated orthogonal to the NE-SE targeted structure). Results are still being compiled but mercury, arsenic and antimony anomalies are confirmed along the structure of interest.
The Spring Peak Property is approximately 6 km southeast of the historical open pit mines at Aurora. At Spring Peak, a sinter terrace is exposed along a structure parallel to the Aurora/Borealis trend, and is overlying altered volcaniclastic deposits and basement Cretaceous granites (2). The sinter system contains anomalous concentrations of Au, Ag, Hg, Sb, and As. Recent ash fall deposits cover much of the area, but frequent vein float with multi-ppm gold concentrations can be found across the Property. The area was drilled with shallow holes in the 1980s, the majority of which were vertical. The sinter terrace and structure that appear to control the anomalous values were never drill tested. Radius believes the Property has the potential to host subvertical high-grade gold veins similar to the Aurora camp. A CSAMT geophysical survey will be conducted over the area of the anomalies to test the hypothesis.
Other Properties
The Company continues to evaluate projects in various jurisdictions and with various commodities but with a focus on gold and silver in Nevada and Mexico. Our Guatemala concession holdings at Banderas remain in good standing and the exploration potential on those properties is high, but with recent developments at Tambor, the new government's commitment to supporting the mining industry has yet to be proven.
References:
1) Technical Report on the Esmeralda Project, Mineral County, Nevada USA. P. Knudsen & N. Prenn, Mine Development Associates (MDA). Prepared for Metallic Ventures Inc., 2002.
2) Gold-Silver Mining Districts, Alteration Zones, and Paleolandforms in the Miocene Bodie Hills Volcanic Field, California and Nevada. USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2015-2012.
3) Geologic Discussion of the Borealis Gold Deposit, Mineral County, Nevada. Strachan D. G. USGS Bull. 1982.
4) NI 43-101 Pre-Feasibility Study Update of the Mineral Resources of the Borealis Gold Project Located in Mineral County, Nevada, USA. J. D. Welsh & J. M. Brown. Prepared for Gryphon Gold Corp., 2011.
Qualified Person
David Clark, M.Sc., P.Geo., is Radius's Qualified Person under the terms of National Instrument 43-101, "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects" and has approved the technical information in this news release.