Harvest Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE:HVG) has announced that Phase II drilling at its 100% owned Rosebud Gold Mine project in northwest Nevada, USA is expected to begin this weekend. Rosebud is in the Kamma Mountain trend, and is approximately five miles south of Allied Nevada's operating Hycroft Mine.
Up to 18 reverse circulation drill holes, totaling approximately 14,000 feet (4,270 metres), are planned. The program is designed to follow-up intercepts from the Company's Phase I drill program completed in July, 2010, and to test additional targets adjacent to the Mine Footprint and is expected to take approximately two months.
The Phase II program will drill in five target areas: the Valley, Far East, the Mine footprint, Southern Extension and Northeast.
Valley Target
In Phase I, the Company drilled 12.2 metres of 1.81 g Au/t and 20.9 g Ag/t beneath thin cover in HGR-10 in the large, sparsely drilled Valley target. The Valley target, which is open in all directions, is less than 500 metres (1,600 feet) from the mine footprint and is close to surface.
In total, the Valley target has been tested by approximately 20 drill holes, including HGR-10, spread over an area approximately 700 metres (2,300 feet) by 500 metres (1,600 feet).
Notable near surface historical mineralized intercepts in the Valley target include 3.0 metres of 3.75 g Au/t in WW-1 and 9.1 metres of 0.77 g Au/t in RL-77, among others.
Interpretation of Phase I drill data, coupled with historical results, suggests that the Valley mineralization occurs at structural intersections along east-west to east-northeast striking faults, which are the major ore controls within the Rosebud mine workings to the east. All of the intercepts in the Valley target are within tertiary volcanic or volcaniclastic rocks.
Far East Target
The Far East Target, adjacent to the East Zone of the Rosebud mine workings, contains historical intercepts of 210 ft of 0.101 oz Au/t (64 m @ 3.46 g Au/t) in RL-217 and 220 ft of 0.097 oz Au/t (67.1 m @ 3.33 g Au/t) in RL-273, among others.
Phase II drilling is targeting extensions of this mineralization, which is open to the north, south, and east.
Mine Footprint
Drilling is scheduled to explore an untested high-grade target down dip from the South Zone of the Rosebud Mine along the South Ridge Fault, a primary ore controlling zone in the Mine Footprint. This target is approximately midway between the Chimney, which was the highest-grade pod mined at Rosebud, and the Northwest Corridor mineralization, which was discovered in 1999, but never mined.
Southern Extension Target
In Phase 1, the Company drilled hole HGR-5 which encountered near surface mineralization approximately 100 metres to the south of the nearest Rosebud Mine stopes. HGR-5 intersected 114.3 metres of 0.49 g Au/t, including: 9.1 metres of 1.40 g Au/t and 4.6 metres of 2.16 g Au/t, expanding the bulk tonnage halo and increasing the volume of rock prospective for hosting high grade pods, or chimneys. This mineralization is open to the north, east and south and begins at approximately 97 metres (320 feet) downhole.
HGR-5 opens a large new area of near surface bulk tonnage mineralization with grades comparable to average grades at Allied Nevada's producing Hycroft Mine. Phase II drilling at the Southern Extension Target will test for extensions of this mineralization to the east and west and for high-grade pods, or chimneys, within this zone.
Northeast Target
Drilling is also planned for the Northeast Target which exhibits anomalous IP, magnetic, and geochemical responses that are analogous to those seen in the Rosebud Mine Footprint.
This target is of similar size to the Mine Footprint and occurs along the east-northeastward projection of an important ore-controlling fault zone within favorably altered volcanic rocks to the northeast of the Mine Footprint.
Rosebud
The Rosebud property is an advanced exploration project consisting of 54 unpatented mining claims centered on the former Rosebud underground mine, which produced nearly 400,000 oz gold and 2,300,000 oz silver between 1997 and 2000. The underground operation mined three high-grade ore zones, with an average production grade of 0.416 oz Au/t (14.2 g/tonne), 2.42 oz Ag/t (83 g/tonne). Due to falling gold prices, the cut-off grade was increased from 0.15 oz Au/t (5.1 g/tonne) to 0.18 oz Au/ton (6.2 g/tonne) over the life of the mine, and mineralized material below the cutoff was not mined. An in-place, non-43-101-compliant Measured and Indicated Global resource of 242,000 oz Au, 2,130,000 oz Ag (6.81 million t @ 0.036 oz Au/t, 0.31 oz Ag/t), was calculated by Hecla at the close of mining in 2000.
The Rosebud deposit is a high-grade low-sulfidation volcanic-hosted precious metals deposit, similar in origin, geologic setting, and mineralization style to other low-sulfidation gold deposits in northern Nevada, including the high-grade multi-million-ounce Sleeper and Midas deposits. The property is located in a highly mineralized portion of the Lovelock-Austin Mineral Belt, about 5 miles south of Allied Nevada's Hycroft mine.
The company has acquired a 100% interest in the property, subject to a net smelter royalty.
Greg Hill, Certified Professional Geologist, the President of Harvest Gold Corp. (US), is the Qualified Person that has reviewed the contents of this news release.