Jun 7 2017
Corvus Gold Inc. announces the agreement to acquire the Mother Lode property in Nevada from Goldcorp USA Inc. (Figure 1). Corvus Gold plans to purchase 100% of the Mother Lode property, covering approximately 250 acres and containing a historic (non-NI-43-101 compliant) resource of 8.5Mt at a grade of 1.6 g/t gold totaling 430,000 ozs of gold.
In addition, Corvus Gold staked two additional adjacent claim blocks to Mother Lode totaling 1,040 acres, covering areas of exploration and development potential. The Mother Lode property approximately 10 kilometres from Corvus Gold's North Bullfrog project with potential for a large satellite operation.
To view Figure 1, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1096594_fig1.jpg
Terms of the transaction include:
- Issuance of 1,000,000 Corvus Gold common shares (with a deemed price of $0.81 per share, based on the closing price on June 5, 2017, with the closing of the transaction expected to occur on June 9, 2017)
- The property is subject to an NSR in favour of Goldcorp. The NSR pays 1% from production at the Mother Lode property when the price of gold is less than USD $1,400/ounce and an additional 1% NSR for a total of 2% NSR when gold price is greater than or equal to USD $1,400/ ounce
Jeff Pontius, President and CEO of Corvus said, "The acquisition of the Mother Lode property is an important addition to Corvus Gold. Mother Lode hosts a series of thick, shallow dipping, stacked mineralized bodies averaging 1.6 g/t gold. These mineralized bodies are open for expansion along with a number feeder structures averaging over 3 g/t gold. We intend to initiate a substantial exploration and resource development program at Mother Lode this summer. Corvus Gold is also on track to complete its update of the North Bullfrog resource and Preliminary Economic Assessment study this fall. 2017 will be an important year for Corvus Gold with several major company expansion projects taking place."
Mother Lode Opportunity
The Mother Lode deposit was mined in the late 1980's when gold price was about $400/ounce. Low gold prices made the operation uneconomic and resulted in the closure of the operation in 1989 after less than 3 years in operation which produced 34,000 ounces of gold. The Mother Lode project is similar in age to the historic Bullfrog Mine and the newly discovered North Bullfrog project and is hosted in both Tertiary volcanic-sedimentary rocks and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. The mineralization occurs as low angle, north dipping, near surface, tabular bodies of mixed sulfide and oxide mineralization. Key structural controls in the deposit appear to be a series of north northwest high angle structures which have acted as conduits for mineralizing fluids (similar to the YellowJacket deposit at North Bullfrog). An important untested target for additional high-grade mineralization is the intersection of the major, low angle east-northeast trending Fluorspar Canyon Fault Zone and the high-angle N-NW trending feeder structures approximately 50 metres below the existing Mother Lode deposit.
Nearly all of the 172 development and exploration drill holes on the property were drilled vertically and are less than 200 metres deep. This vertical drilling pattern was not optimum for defining the steeply dipping, high-grade structural systems, although some did intersect a couple of these zones (ML-086: 24m @ 4.4g/t Au; D-442: 24m @ 5.1g/t Au; D-445: 18m @ 7.4g/t). The current deposit has three defined tabular bodies that are all currently open for expansion down dip and to the west.
The current Mother Lode land package is limited in size, but potentially adequate for possible satellite mining project and surface processing facilities. Corvus is also considering alternatives where higher-grade mineralization could be trucked to the planned Corvus mill facility at the North Bullfrog Project which is approximately 20 miles away by road. Preliminary column test, heap leach metallurgical work on the deposit indicates heap leach potential for the lower grade material. The Mother Lode project has excellent access lying along a major county graveled road and with grid power three kilometres away.
As Corvus Gold geologists and engineers review the extensive digital and hard copy database the Company will provide project and exploration target updates over the coming months. Corvus Gold has begun exploration and is planning to start the initial phase of exploration drilling on the Mother Lode project in the fall of this year.
The Toronto Stock Exchange has granted conditional approval to the issuance of the Corvus Gold common shares under the transaction.
The historic estimates for the Mother Lode property contained in this news release should not be relied upon. These estimates are not National Instrument 43-101 ("NI-43-101") compliant. While the Company considers these historical estimates to be relevant to investors as it may indicate the presence of mineralization, a qualified person for the Company has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current mineral resources as defined by NI 43-101 and the Company is not treating these historical estimates as a current mineral resource.
About the North Bullfrog Project, Nevada
Corvus controls 100% of its North Bullfrog Project, which covers approximately 72 km² in southern Nevada. The property package is made up of a number of private mineral leases of patented federal mining claims and 865 federal unpatented mining claims. The project has excellent infrastructure, being adjacent to a major highway and power corridor as well as a large water right. The company also controls 65 federal unpatented mining claims on the Mother Lode project which totals 522 hectares which it owns 100% of.
The North Bullfrog project includes numerous prospective gold targets at various stages of exploration with four having NI 43-101 mineral resources (Sierra Blanca, Jolly Jane, Mayflower and YellowJacket). The project contains a measured mineral resource of 3.86 Mt at an average grade of 2.55 g/t gold and 19.70 g/t silver, containing 316.5k ounces of gold and 2,445k ounces of silver, an indicated mineral resource of 1.81 Mt at an average grade of 1.53 g/t gold, and 10.20 g/t silver, containing 89.1k ounces of gold and 593.6k ounces of silver and an inferred resource of 1.48 Mt at an average grade of 0.83 g/t gold and 4.26 g/t silver, containing 39.5k ounces of gold and 202.7k ounces of silver for oxide mill processing. The mineral resource for the mill process was defined by Whittle™ optimization using all cost and recovery data and a breakeven cut-off grade of 0.52 g/t gold. In addition, the project contains a measured mineral resource of 0.3 Mt at an average grade of 0.25 g/t gold and 2.76 g/t silver, containing 2.4k ounces of gold and 26.6k ounces of silver, an indicated mineral resource of 22.86 Mt at an average grade of 0.30 g/t gold and 0.43 g/t silver, containing 220.5k ounces of gold and 316.1k ounces of silver and an inferred mineral resource of 176.3 Mt at an average grade of 0.19 g/t gold and 0.67 g/t silver, containing 1,077.4k ounces of gold and 3,799.2k ounces of silver for oxide, heap leach processing. The mineral resource for heap leach processing was defined by Whittle™ optimization using all cost and recovery data and a breakeven cut-off grade of 0.15 g/t.
Qualified Person and Quality Control/Quality Assurance
Jeffrey A. Pontius (CPG 11044), a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"), has supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Pontius is not independent of Corvus, as he is the CEO & President and holds common shares and incentive stock options.
Carl E. Brechtel, (Nevada PE 008744 and Registered Member 353000 of SME), a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, has coordinated execution of the work outlined in this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Brechtel is not independent of Corvus, as he is the COO and holds common shares and incentive stock options.
The work program at North Bullfrog was designed and supervised by Mark Reischman, Corvus Gold's Nevada Exploration Manager, who is 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, Nevada, for preparation and then on to ALS Chemex in Reno, Nevada, 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.
For additional information on the North Bullfrog project, including information relating to exploration, data verification and the mineral resource estimates, see "Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment for Combined Mill and Heap Leach Processing at the North Bullfrog Project, Bullfrog Mining District, NYE County, Nevada" dated June 16, 2015 as amended and restated May 18, 2016 which is available under Corvus' SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.