NevGold Corp. (TSXV:NAU) (OTCQX:NAUFF) (Frankfurt:5E50) found high-grade results at its Nutmeg Mountain property in Idaho.
NevGold made a significant gold discovery near the surface of its Nutmeg Mountain gold project including high-grade, open-pit, oxide, heap-leach gold mineral resource with 1.01 million ounces of indicated resources and an additional 275,000 inferred ounces of gold.
Over the past year the company has increased the expected gold yield by over 32 per cent. There is an ongoing focus on targeted exploration efforts that hold the potential for further gold discoveries.
The gold deposits being close to the surface makes the mining process easier and cheaper because of the reduced need for extensive material removal to get to the gold. This translates directly into more gold pulled from the property and more revenue with less time spent.
Additionally, the company completed its initial Mineral Resource Estimate for the Nutmeg Mining gold project in southwest Idaho. This estimate replaces the one completed by GoldMining Inc. (TSX: GOLD) (NYSE: GLDG) prior to NevGold’s acquisition of the property in June, 2022.
NevGold increased the cut-off grades from the original MRE made by GoldMining from 0.30 g/t Au to 0.60 g/t Au, and now the project includes 560 koz of Indicated Resources at 0.92 g/t Au, and 81 kozs of inferred at 0.87 g/t Au. The company will continue to explore for more potential high-grades mineralization as the project advances with further drilling.
“Since announcing the transaction on Nutmeg Mountain in 2022, we strongly believed there was immediate growth potential not captured in the 2020 historical resource,” said Brandon Bonifacio, NevGold CEO.
“Using the same cut-off grade from the 2020 historical resource of 0.30 g/t Au, we were able to significantly increase the Indicated Mineral Resource to 1.01 Mozs, and the Inferred Mineral Resource to 275kozs.”
The gold project’s output is relatively insensitive to fluctuations in the price of gold. Even if a more selective approach is taken to extract gold based on stricter criteria, the company could still access about 1.13 million indicated ounces of gold, as well as an additional 365,000 ounces of gold inferred.
The gold deposits also include a higher-grade segment and concentrating on this higher-grade gold, the company could potentially access around 560,000 ounces of indicated gold, accompanied by an additional 81,000 ounces of slightly lower-grade inferred gold. The company’s exploration plans include further drilling and testing to uncover more of this higher-grade gold.
NevGold’s strategy involves continued exploration efforts to precisely locate the gold deposits and develop effective extraction methods. Comprehensive testing will be conducted to determine the most efficient way to extract gold from the rock formations. The company’s calculations will subsequently be updated to provide a clearer understanding of the project’s potential profitability.
Chart via NevGold.
Read more: NevGold discovers new untested areas at Limousine Butte
Read more: NevGold discovers oxide gold from the surface at Nutmeg Mountain
Work to date revealed several drill targets
The work accomplished by the company up to this point has revealed several drill targets of high importance for future exploration. Previous drilling efforts have mainly concentrated on finding gold in areas where it’s already visible on the surface or close. These areas are primarily located on land owned by the company or on private land where they have permission to explore.
NevGold has also pinpointed many more spots with potential for gold near the surface. The holes that have been drilled are less than 75 meters and the veins that often contain the highest quality gold in this type of region have not been discovered yet.
The company employed computer models to determine the economic feasibility of the program, with a set gold price of $1,750 per ounce, and the price to move one ton of earth at $2, with $8 to process each ton of rock.
NevGold’s calculations from the model returned that the company could get back 80 per cent of the gold from heap leaching, at an overall slope angle of 50 degrees.
NevGold shares declined 1.5 per cent to $0.365 on Thursday on the TSX Venture Exchange.
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