After experiencing a subdued reaction from the market on its drill results containing 26 meters at 4.66 g/t gold at the Gold Bar project in Nevada, today’s update from Fremont Gold (FRE.V) might get the market more enthusiast. At the Gold Canyon project – which borders McEwen Mining (MUX.TO, MUX) Gold Bar development project, the company encountered 18.3 meters at 1.1 g/t gold, 16.8 meters at 1.9 g/t gold and 6.1 meters at 1.8 g/t gold in two of the five holes.
Keep in mind these are the first five holes drilled by Fremont Gold on this property, and although only two holes contain mineralization that appears to be economic, it’s encouraging to see all five holes encountered gold mineralization.
What’s intriguing is the fact Fremont’s third hole appears to have intersected two separate gold zones: one starting at surface (where 16.8 meters at 1.9 g/t gold is an absolutely excellent result for an oxide project), whereas a second zone (6.1m at 1.8 g/t gold) appears to be lying a bit deeper, at approximately 50 meters down-hole. And this could be an interesting development as hole number 4 (11 meters at 0.18 g/t gold and 4.5 meters at 0.36 g/t gold) seems to have intersected the same structures. Yes, the grade in hole number 4 is definitely lower than the excellent assay results in hole 3, but keep in mind that A) hole 4 was drilled approximately 100 meters north of hole 3, and B) appears to have a different angle. So whilst the mineralization in hole 4 doesn’t appear to be economic, we agree with the company’s thesis this could indicate there’s a mineralized ‘blanket’ (or two separate blankets, to be more precise) at the bottom of the Gold Canyon pit.
More drilling will be required to connect the dots, but we are very pleased with the results of hole 3, where the results are as good as it gets for an oxide project. Almost 17 meters at 1.9 g/t, including 8 meters of 2.5 g/t is a stunning result for any oxide project. The fact the mineralization is starting at surface is an additional bonus. A second bonus is the proximity to the planned open pit operation of McEwen Mining’s Gold Bar mine (which has an average resource grade of LESS than 1 g/t gold), which is literally just 1.5 kilometers away.
Fremont Gold is doing what it promised: it’s expanding the size of the gold oxide mineralization and considering McEwen Mining is just a few kilometers away, the old Gold Canyon pit could easily become a satellite operation for McEwen Mining.
Now all assay results from the May/June drill campaign have been released, we will try to get an in-depth update from CEO Dennis Moore soon. Meanwhile, you can re-read our initial report here.
Go to Fremont’s website
The author has a long position in Fremont Gold. Fremont is a sponsor of the websie. Please read the disclaimer
