NEVADA GOLD EXPLORATION
Winnemucca Mountain Gold Property
The Winnemucca Mountain Property (the “Property’) consists of over 2600 acres+/- in Humboldt County, in northwestern Nevada. Humboldt County is the second largest gold producing county in the United States and hosts numerous past and producing gold mines, including the Getchell (Barrick/Newmont), Marigold (Goldcorp), Lone Tree (Newmont), and Twin Creeks (Newmont). The Property is located about 25 km northwest of the Lone Tree Mine and 30 km southeast of the historic Sleeper open pit mine operated by Amax Gold from 1986 to 1996. Recent exploration at Sleeper has identified an additional resource of over 5 Million ounces of gold and in excess of 60 million ounces of silver.
The Property is located near the northern end of the highly productive Battle Mountain-Eureka mineral trend, and is underlain by Triassic sediments cut by several phases of Cretaceous and Tertiary intrusive and volcanic rocks. Previous exploration on the Winnemucca Mountain Property conducted by Santa Fe Pacific Gold Corp. (now Newmont Mining) between 1988 and 1990, focused on the pediment covered Swordfish zone. Gold mineralization in the Swordfish zone occurs within a northeast trending, low sulfide quartz vein system that extends approximately 670 meters (2,200 feet) along the western flank of claim block. Santa Fe conducted geological mapping, rock sampling, trenching, CSAMT and induced polarization geophysical surveys, collected 286 auger hole bedrock samples, and completed a total of 18,260 meters (52,470.8 feet) in 73 reverse circulation (RC) drill holes, nearly all of which were focused on the Swordfish zone and reported results ranging up to 13.7 m averaging 3.9 g per tonne gold (45 feet averaging 0.137 opt gold). Near the end of Santa Fe’s tenure on the Property, a step-out hole 500 meters (1600 feet) to the northeast of the swordfish zone encountered 69 g/t gold (2.2 opt gold) across 1.5 meters (5 feet) at what is known as the ‘SF Extension’.
This intercept was never followed up on by Santa Fe who relinquished their interest in the Property shortly thereafter.Management considers the untested and pediment covered 500-meter strike between the Swordfish Zone and SF Extension to be a high priority drill target, as well as investigating other areas beyond.In addition to the Swordfish and SF Extension areas, additional exploration targets have been identified and are comprised of multiple outcropping vein-type occurrences reported to carry anomalous gold values that have yet to be explored in detail. Exploration conducted in 1996, which included an induced polarization (IP) survey, is thought to have delineated two new target zones that correlate well with known mineralized areas.
Initial exploration completed by Northern Minerals and Exploration (“Northern”) including geologic mapping, rock sampling and geochemical exploration has shown a series of steeply dipping quartz veins outcroppings which appear to be associated with a major northeast trending, gold-bearing shear zone that is several hundred feet wide and 3,000-5,000 feet in length in the Swordfish Target area on Winnemucca Mountain. Indicating that the total strike length at the Swordfish Target is potentially significantly longer than the 2,200 feet previously outlined by Santa Fe Pacific in the 1990’s.
Results from the Northern’s initial phase of the exploration on the Winnemucca Mountain Property have been combined with available historic data to construct 3D modeling of the potential resource target area and to determine an ideal drilling strategy.
Winnemucca Mountain Property Summary
The Winnemucca Mountain Property covers 2600 acres and is located in an area of numerous past and current gold mines. Two of the most significant are the Sleeper and Hycroft mines, both of which produced over one million ounces of gold during operations from the late 1980’s to the late 1990’s. Both mines are located to the west of Winnemucca Mountain.
Gold and silver were first discovered in the Winnemucca Mining District in 1863, and during the 1860’s several smelters were constructed in the area. Modern exploration began in the 1980’s with mapping, geochemical sampling, geophysics and drilling conducted by several companies including St. Joe, Cordex, Tenneco, and Sante Fe Pacific Gold. By the mid-1990’s over 52,000 feet of drilling had been completed. A large percentage of this drilling was done in the Swordfish Target which is currently being evaluated by the company as a potentially minable deposit. Northern is planning further exploration on the Winnemucca Mountain property with the focus of defining the potential of one million plus ounces of gold equivalent on the Property.
Northern Minerals and Exploration Ltd. currently is in the process of re-negotiating a new agreement on the Winnemucca Mountain Property.
Winnemucca Mountain History
The first claim on the mountain apparently occurred in 1859 making it one of the oldest mining areas in the entire State. The first mine to go into production on Winnemucca Mountain was called the Pride of the Mountain, which was discovered in the early 1860’s.
In 1917 this mine produced some of the richest ore imaginable. “It was no uncommon sight to see ore from there that carried more gold than rock. In fact,slabs of almost solid metal were found. A streak of spar mud that was opened in the vein in the upper workings was so rich in the precious yellow metal that when the material was pressed into a ball and broken it fairly glittered, so rich were the gold contents”. Quoted from the The Humboldt Star, February 2, 1917
The history of this magnificent mountain has only been lightly touched here in a basic and clinical way.
