PolarX has tabled a treasure trove of high-grade gold and silver results from the first-pass sampling program at its Humboldt Range project in the western United States, with several samples returning assays grading over an ounce to the tonne gold. They include assays of 37.7 grams per tonne gold, 31.2 g/t gold and a stunning 1590 g/t silver.
The rock-chip and surface sampling program has been completed as part of the company’s due diligence on the high-grade gold-silver acquisition in Nevada.
PolarX’s recent exploration program in the Humboldt Range was designed to confirm the results from historical reconnaissance sampling undertaken between 2006 and 2007 which returned 19 samples grading over 10 g/t gold. Interestingly, the sampling program also delivered some spectacular results from key prospects within the Black Canyon claim block, including assays of 335.03 g/t gold and 512.73 g/t gold from the Lois Vein discovery and an astonishing 3,384 g/t, or more 100 ounces to the tonne gold from the nearby Indian Ike Mine.
PolarX Managing Director, Frazer Tabeart said:“Surface grades from rock-chip sampling and mine dumps at Humboldt Range are exceptionally high, with multiple samples exceeding 100g/t gold along with high-grade silver, lead and zinc. It’s surrounded by large producing mines which shows the geology is conducive to significant modern-scale operations.”
The Humboldt Range is located in the mining state of Nevada in the United States approximately 190km north-east of Reno and is easily accessible via Interstate Highway I-80 which runs alongside the company’s new tenure.
Nevada lays claim to being the largest producer of gold in the United States, accounting for over 75 per cent of total US production in 2018 and 5 per cent of total global production in the same period. The state hosts several extensive gold-rich trends including the famed Battle Mountain and Carlin Trends, which host a wealth of world-class gold deposits including the massive Carlin, Cortez and Goldstrike operations, which each pump out more than 800,000 ounces of gold per annum.
The Humboldt Range lies in the west of the Nevada gold province and sits on the underexplored Lovelock-Austin Trend with the company’s tenure sitting strategically between the 5-million-ounce Florida Canyon gold mine in the north and the 3-million-ounce Rochester gold mine in the south, which also hosts a resource of more than 400 million ounces of silver.
PolarX’s tenure in Nevada consists of two main prospect areas, the Black Canyon claims in the north, which host the historic Midas, Lois Vein and Indian Ike mines and the Fourth of July claims in the south. The project is currently comprised of 177 mineral claims which cover around 18km of prospective strike. The company is also looking to consolidate its position in the region and is currently pegging an additional 100 claims in the Fourth of July prospect area.
The Humboldt Range region was historically mined from 1865 to 1927, with small scale artisanal operations exploiting the rich, epithermal gold and silver-bearing quartz veins that fracture and intrude the underlying host rocks. The company says the region has yet to be subjected to modern exploration, providing a unique opportunity for PolarX to leverage its Australian and US exploration experience into a relatively untouched, precious metal terrane.
PolarX has already identified several key geological features that appear to act as conduits for gold and silver mineralisation, with epithermal veining occurring in structurally-controlled corridors up to 275m wide which run north-south through the Humboldt claims. The challenge for the company now lies in determining the lateral and vertical extents of these structures and whether the precious metal mineralisation is amenable to modern bulk mining operations.
Exploration over the coming months is expected to include mapping, rock chip and channel sampling, in addition to ground geophysics as PolarX nails down the dominant mineralised trends across its Nevada tenure.
PolarX has already paid the vendor of Humboldt Range, Armada Mining, US$35,000 to secure an option over the US tenure and will make staged payments totalling another US$175,000 and 5 million shares to secure ownership of the project.
Mr Tabeart said:“Seasons in Nevada will allow us to work from April to December each year, enabling us to generate strong news flow virtually all year round and leverage our current team, most of whom live in relative proximity and are familiar with the region”.
With PolarX’s exploration program in Alaska on hold over winter, the company’s new acquisition in Nevada is an ideal match for its growing US operations and with sampling already delivering high-grade gold and silver assays, the company now looks well-placed to deliver a stream of results from North America across both the summer and winter field seasons.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
