Feb 17 2014
Rye Patch Gold Corp is pleased to announce its programs and budget for 2014.
Highlights:
- Drilling programs are planned along the Oreana (Lincoln Hill/Gold Ridge and Wilco), and Cortez (Garden Gate Pass and Patty) trends;
- Drilling has started on the eastern target at Garden Gate Pass;
- Drill programs will run from February to September;
- US$3.8 million in exploration is planned at four project locations - US$2.0 million at the Oreana trend and US$1.8 million at the Cortez trend; and
- The Rochester mine NSR royalty is anticipated to more than cover all 2014 exploration expenditures.
Rye Patch Gold has approved a US$3.8-million 2014 budget for exploration and drilling programs along the Oreana and Cortez trends in Nevada. The exploration programs will include drilling up to 10,000 metres in four project locations. A summary of the program is as follows:
Cortez Trend:
Garden Gate Pass: Drilling at Garden Gate Pass has started with mud rotary drilling on the eastern target of the property. Gravity and seismic geophysical surveys have been interpreted and suggest a carbonate ridge on the eastern side of the project area. Drilling will confirm whether the carbonate is the prospective Wenban Formation that hosts Barrick Gold's Goldrush deposit (15-million ounces of gold) located roughly 3 kilometres to the north. The drilling is on the projection of Barrick's drill pattern. A total of US$550,000 is planned on the project.
Patty: Drilling in 2012 and detailed surface exploration work in 2013, have outlined two priority targets on the Patty property. The first is the geologic extension of the Goldrush anticline that host gold mineralization at Barrick's Goldrush deposit located 10 kilometres to the north. The target is located in the northwestern portion of the property.
The second target area is located on the southwest portion of the property along a major structural feature. Widespread Carlin-style geochemistry (gold, arsenic and antimony) has been returned from surface rock-chip sampling including a 9.4 g/t gold sample from the fault zone. Drilling will target carbonate lithologies along the structural zone. The target is very similar to Cortez Hills located 20 kilometres northward along a similar structural zone.
The budget will total US$1,250,000, and drilling will commence in July.
Oreana Trend:
Lincoln Hill/Gold Ridge: At Lincoln Hill, mapping shows the strike extension of the mineralized zone southward toward Independence Hill. Surface mapping and rock-chip sampling at Independence Hill confirm four separate high-grade corridors crossing outcrop exposures at the Alexander Hamilton, Buck&Charlie, Looney, Hill Top, and Octopus historic mines.
Near the Buck&Charlie mine, a rock-chip sample returned 37.5 g/t Au and 2,070.0 g/t Ag from a breccia outcrop. The breccia has been mapped for 380 metres along a southwest to northeast trend. At the Looney mine, a rock-chip grab sample returned 22.87 g/t Au and 9.7 g/t Ag from quartz vein material. Surface exposures in the old workings and shafts indicate the zone is at least a 300 metre strike length, and at the Octopus mine, several samples returned significant gold and silver along 160 metres of strike along the main structural zone including 1.62 g/t Au and 568.0 g/t Ag; 1.11 g/t Au and 77.6 g/t Ag; 0.05 g/t Au and 497 g/t Ag; 0.69g/t Au and 240.0 g/t Ag. The historic workings follow a breccia zone.
At the Roosevelt zone, significant surface gold and silver assays were returned including 34.79 g/t Au and 779 g/t Ag; 14 g/t Au and 183 g/t Ag; 97.92 g/t Au and 1527 g/t Ag; and 97.5 g/t Au and 1303 g/t Ag along a high-grade structural trend.
At Independence Hill, the overall strike length of the breccia, vein, and stockwork zones is 1.3 kilometres which has the potential to significantly expand the Lincoln Hill resource.
Drilling on north Gold Ridge anomaly will be addressed this summer. At north Gold Ridge, surface rock-chip samples taken at random intervals along the jasperoid outcrop returned encouraging results such as 3.120 g/t Au and 19.2 g/t Ag, and 2.860 g/t Au and 51.1 g/t Ag.
Drilling on the project will begin in May and will cost US$1,150,000.
Wilco: Exploration activities continued at Wilco with new detailed mapping, rock-chip sampling and interpretation of geophysical and historical drilling data. This work was designed to extend the Section Line and Colado gold and silver resource areas by identifying drill targets located adjacent to these resources. Based on this work, two promising drill target areas were identified.