Today, Gold Standard Ventures Corp. (TSX-V: GV; shares issued & outstanding: 61 million) announced to have drilled 4.3 g/t gold over 56 m at a depth of only 169 m including an interval of 7 g/t gold over 18 m. Apparently, this gold mineralization is flat-lying which means that the mentioned intervals are likely to be the (approximate) true widths. This mineralization zone encountered at this depth is likely to be mineable via an open-pit and has become a probable company maker today.
The assays from this discovery hole (RR11-16) have been received to a depth of 268 m, whereas the rig continues to drill deeper as we speak currently having reached a depth of 549 m. Thus, further sensational assays are likely to be published over the next days or weeks, especially when considering that the real high-grade feeder zone typically occur at much greater depths – just as being mined out in the near-by operations from Newmont and Barrick.
In today`s news release, Dave Mathewson, vice president of exploration, commented as follows:
“Our exploration model of large, Carlin-style gold-mineralized dissolution collapse breccias in the footwall of a major graben-bounded gold system has held up very well, and we therefore see the potential for even better results as the drilling continues… The North Bullion Fault Zone (NBFZ) hosts a very large, mineralized breccia body that we discovered in late 2010 and explored through 2011.We believe this breccia was mineralized by multiple high-grade gold feeder zones which are blind targets within the more dispersed lower-grade portions of the breccias. Over the last year, we have narrowed down the search, obtaining increasingly better drill results while defining a major north-south-trending fault complex. RR11-16 is located
in the footwall of this complex, angled toward a major east-flanking graben-bounded structure. The character of the rock we see suggests that we may not yet be in a feeder zone…we may have encountered mineralization which is on the flank, or possibly above, a feeder zone. We therefore expect to continue this hole through the graben-bounded structure and into tertiary rocks which mark the edge of the zone of interest.”
Dave Mathewson is one of the most renowned and respected geologists when it comes to Nevada – not only because he was the yhead of exploration for Newmont in Nevada and now already having an experience of >35 years focusing on that single US state. Numerous discoveries in the prolific Rain District on the Carlin Trend are credited directly to his hands-on work and knowledge. He also developed the famous and now commonly-used “Rain Model” on the prerequisites for the existence of Carlin-type gold deposits.
Gold Standard`s flagship project “Railroad” is located in the heart of the Carlin Trend right next to major gold mines operated by seniors like Newmont and Barrick (>$6 billion infrastructure near-by). With >300 million gold ounces (oz) discovered and defined to date and with a yearly production of >6 million oz, Nevada was and still is still one of the largest sources for precious metals in the world (>80% of all gold mined in the USA comes from here). Since the 19th century, >5,000 tons of gold alone were recovered in this US state – at today’s prices worth >$270 billion. Newmont and Barrick benefited from the emerging gold business in Nevada and are now the biggest and most profitable gold miners in the world.
Railroad directly borders the south of the Rain Mine (operated by Newmont; last significant Carlin gold discovery, whereas GV’s technical team was responsible for it); so far >6 million gold oz were discovered (still growing). A few km up north are the 2 productive mines Gold Quarry (Newmont; >23 million oz mined @ >7 million oz reserves remaining) and Tusk both with a yearly gold production of some 1 million oz. A few km further up north are the 3 mines Goldstrike (Barrick; open-pit; 1.4 million oz production in 2009 @ 12 million oz proven & probable reserves remaining), Meikle (Barrick; underground; 0.4 million oz per year @ >7 million oz reserves remaining) and Leeville (Newmont) together producing some 2 million oz per year. Thus, Railroad represents the last vastly underexplored district on the Carlin Trend which was even once called the Railroad-Pinon Trend.
Just one year ago, Dave Mathewson commented as follows in an interview (Feb. 19, 2011):
“The Railroad District is located immediately south´and adjacent to the Rain District on the Carlin trend. I have many times referred to them both as “sister” districts because of their proximity to each other and their almost identical geological characteristics. In the past, Railroad has been very underexplored with none of the tools or ideas that worked so exceptionally well in the Rain District ever having been applied to railroad.”
In 2009, GV conducted a gravity geophysics study over the entire Railroad Property (65 km2) discovering various target zones to be drill tested (density highs comparable to the Rain deposit 4 km north – but with the
stunning difference of being three-times the size). The Phase-1 drill program (5,587 m with 16 holes out of which 10 intersected significant mineralization) started in the summer of 2010 and was completed in early 2011. Hole #8 encountered 133 m exceeding 1 g/t gold. This initial drill program confirmed that all the prerequisites for a Carlin Type deposit are fulfilled as per the “Rain Model” for such deposits, such as gold, mercury, sulphides, alteration and brecciation. Furthermore, all these vectors indicate an extension to the north – which is the most open direction for a major gold deposit discovery. Between hole #8 and the Rain property border lies >2 km of a highly prospective target zone that has been started to be aggressively drilled-out. Hole #8 is comparable to the best five to 10 holes that were ever drilled (>1,200) at the near-by Emigrant deposit. The rock alteration seen on the drill core #8 has stunning similarities to alterations typical for all major hydrothermal gold deposits on the Carlin Trend. The extremely high gold:silver-ratio plus high levels of mercury suggest the mineralization is more akin to the highgrade Rain deposit (>4 million oz) than the lower-graded Emigrant deposit (2 million oz).
Virtually all Carlin deposits include smaller-scaled high-grade zones that are mined underground, whereas these resources are within or near zones of larger-scaled low-grade zones (halos) that are typically mined-out first and independently via small open-pits also serving as blending ore.
Gold Standard is currently drilling three angled core holes to the east into the NBFZ fault complex. Drill hole #17, located south of #16 and angled at -75, is at a depth of about 671 m. Drill hole #18, located north of #16 and angled at a -70° is at about 518 m. Both of these holes are drilling well within favorable stratigraphy and should be completed within the next three weeks. Upon completion of all three holes currently in progress, two of the core rigs will remain drilling the NBFZ target. The third core rig will be moved to assist drill testing the company’s East Camp Douglas targets.
Between July 2010 and February 2011, the GV stock price predominately moved sideways within the red triangle legs, whereas the price also consolidated within red triangle-legs between March and December 2011. In early 2012, all red trendlines crossed eachother representing the apex of the triangle(s). The breachings of this apex in late 2011 are considered as a typical "fake breakout" to the downside as the price started to rise strongly thereafter (so-called "thrust").
The goal of this thrust to the upside is to transform the resistive high of the triangle (approximately $1.50) into a new support in order for a new and long-term upward trend to commence.
Today, the price opened 25% higher at $1.50 thus having reached the uppermost green trend-channel. A strong buy-signal is generated once breaking and holding above this level.
Stephan Bogner (Dipl. Kfm. in Economics) is a mining and commodity analyst with Rockstone Research Ltd, an independent research house specialized in the analysis and valuation of capital markets and publicly listed companies. The focus is set on the exploration, development and production of resource deposits. Please visit www.rockstone-research.com for further information, such as the disclaimer of the above article.
Conference call: A conference call hosted by Jonathan Awde, president & CEO, and Dave Mathewson, vice president exploration, is scheduled today to discuss the drilling update. Investors are invited to participate by connecting to the call using one of the following dial-in numbers and asking to be placed in the Gold Standard Conference call:
“Railroad is a district-scale exploration opportunity with all the ingredients of system, host, structure, and discovery opportunity for both open pit and underground gold deposits. The district is a very close analog to Newmont’s adjacent Rain District where approximately 6 million ounces of gold have been discovered and many more millions of ounces probably remain undiscovered. A very large volume of rock in the Railroad District has been affected by metal-bearing, including gold, hydrothermal activity. Dating of intrusive rocks indicate a late Eocene mineral event age consistent with the time of emplacement of gold elsewhere on the Carlin Trend. Favorable host rock units with variable to strong gold system indications are exposed over a considerably larger area than that in the Rain District. Evaluation of the large geochemical database and the new, detailed gravity work and the drilling that gold standard ventures conducted in 2010 provide good indications of the presence of potentially very significant gold deposits at Railroad the drilling, especially core …drilling that gold standard ventures conducted in 2010 confirmed the presence of extensive bodies of altered and mineralized collapse breccias; the Rain model for gold deposits is very much in evidence. This articular model is also the model for about 80% of all the gold, especially the high grade gold mineralization on the Carlin Trend.” - Dave Mathewson, Feb. 19, 2011
The full interview with Dave Mathewson can be read by clicking on the below link:
www.rockstone-research.de/research/GV+1_2011+02+19_english.pdf
A German translation of the interview is available via this link:
www.rockstone-research.de/research/GV+1_2011+02+19_german.pdf