Oct 1 2018
New Jersey Mining Company announced today it has increased its overall land position at the Company’s Eastern Star and South Fork project areas in central Idaho.
The Company’s Eastern Star and South Fork projects are located approximately one mile apart in the central Idaho Gold Belt, near the small community of Elk City, Idaho. The Elk City Mining District is an historic gold mining region dating back to the 1860s and once supported more than 20 underground mines and extensive placer operations. Modern exploration in the district by companies including Cypress-Amax, Kinross Gold, and Bema Gold primarily focused on near-surface bulk-tonnage gold potential, while many of the smaller-scale high-grade gold occurrences have been largely ignored.
The Eastern Star and South Fork projects are located along the north-south trending Oro Grande Shear Zone, which is the primary mineralizing structure of the central Idaho Gold Belt. The Eastern Star consists 11 patented claims and 38 unpatented lode claims totaling 980 acres. The South Fork has 5 patented and 34 unpatented lode claims totaling 704 acres.
At the Eastern Star, NJMC has completed initial mapping, trenching and sampling programs, identifying several quartz veins in historic prospect pits and small shafts. Though these selected samples may not be representative of the true average grade of mineralization on the property, they do show the presence of high-grade gold within mineralized quartz vein material. Of the 27 samples collected over multiple vein zones, 12 samples returned gold values exceeding 5.5 gpt, with five of those exceeding 17.0 gpt.
The South Fork Mine was a historic high-grade producer. Bureau of Mines records show 6,036 ounces of gold and 1,529 ounces of silver were taken from 11,639 tons of ore between 1905 and 1916. Underground mining at the South Fork Mine was conducted from three levels, which have a total development length of 5,000 feet. The project was used by the University of Idaho-School of Mines to teach students proper underground geological field methods in the 1940’s.
Rob Morgan, NJMC V.P of Geology stated “There has been a noticeable increase in activity along the central Idaho Gold Belt over the last two years, with 2 mines currently in development by Finnish Gold Producer, Endomines. We welcome the increased exposure of the district and feel fortunate to have focused on the best properties in the area well ahead of the current competitive atmosphere. At the Eastern Star, our initial work indicates the presence of sets or a series of gold-bearing quartz veins with several near surface, high-grade targets, making the project drill ready for the 2019 field season.”
John Swallow, NJMC President and CEO, “Our patented/unpatented land strategy in the Elk City area is similar to that of the Murray Gold Belt – focusing on former gold mines/prospects on private land with ownership of adjacent unpatented mining claims. From an operational and permitting perspective, this approach not only fits our current strategy of starting small and growing, but also provides a potential base for sizeable operations on private land should that opportunity become available.”
Quality assurance/quality control
Analytics work was done by ALS Geochemistry Laboratory in Reno, NV with sample prep and geochemical analysis. Each rock (grab) sample was analyzed for gold using a 30 gram fire assay fusion with atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish (FA430.) In addition Company quality control procedures were performed included submitting blanks and gold standard samples.
Qualified person
NJMC’s Vice President of Exploration, Robert John Morgan, PG, PLS is a qualified person as such term is defined in National Instrument 43- 101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information and data included in this press release.