Junior explorer PolarX has hit a 9.1m intersection running a stellar 124 grams per tonne gold from a shallow 27.4m in its maiden RC drilling campaign at the company’s Humboldt Range project in Nevada. Notably, the stellar intersection contained an exceptionally high-grade zone of 3m at 371 g/t gold and 143.5 g/t silver with the same hole going on to immediately deliver another 73.2m going 0.28 g/t in Carlin-style mineralisation to the end of hole.
Nevada was the birthplace of Carlin-type gold deposit and PolarX’s 10-hole program appears to have confirmed an association between bonanza gold and silver grades within quartz veins and another repeat of the coveted mineralisation style at the project’s Star Canyon prospect.
PolarX sees the high-grade veins as a potentially significant addition to the metal inventory of a large Carlin-style resource that may be within its fence lines.
The company’s unfolding system appears to be expansive, with the company’s campaign striking another 42.7m at 0.32 g/t gold in a different hole 400m to the north.
Taking a short step out to the west from the bonanza results, the explorer angled another drill hole in the opposite direction and encountered more Carlin-style mineralisation, intercepting 61m at 0.19 g/t gold.
The mineralisation remains open and largely untested for the extension of the bonanza-grade veins.
The Star Canyon prospect is part of a much larger anomalous gold and silver zone known to contain many other mineralised veins with bonanza grade potential.
PolarX’s short program only tested an area of 600m by 400m within a broader soil anomaly measuring 2500m by 1000m.
Notably, Star Canyon is within 3km from the 5-million-ounce operating Florida Canyon gold mine run by Canadian company Argonaut Gold.
Given the strong results, the explorer is prioritising follow-up drilling at Star Canyon and the neighbouring Ridgeline prospect where it will target further high-grade veins within Carlin-style mineralisation.
Carlin-type sites are sediment-hosted disseminated gold deposits, often called “invisible gold” as they can only be found through chemical analysis.
Carlin-style deposits came to fame in 1961, discovered by the legendary gold miner Newmont Mining Corporation. Since then, the deposit type has been popping up all over China, Australia, Spain and Russia among others.
The Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology estimates Nevada’s gold endowment from the Carlin type alone is 255 million ounces of gold.
Interestingly, PolarX’s holdings are only 180km west of Newmont’s original discovery site and the origin of the highly sought-after deposit.
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By Matt Birney
