EDMONTON, Alberta--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Golden Predator Mining Corp. (GPY.V) (the “Company”) announces that it has entered into a Mining Lease and Sublease Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Platoro West Inc. (“Platoro”) on its Castle West property in Esmeralda County, Nevada. The Castle West property consists of 74 unpatented claims leased from Platoro West Inc. and two subleases of an additional total of 10 claims. Golden Predator Mining intends to commence surface mapping and reconnaissance in Q3, 2014 with the objective of developing additional drill targets.
“We are excited to be acquiring a prospective project in one of the world’s premier gold mining jurisdictions – Nevada,” said Greg Hayes, CEO of Golden Predator. “With easy access, three significant anomalies already identified and encouraging previous drill programs, the Castle West property has near-term discovery potential.”
West Castle Project
The West Castle property covers more than 1,600 acres in Esmeralda County, Nevada, 30 miles west of Tonopah, Nevada. The property lies within the Walker Lane gold belt on the southern end of the Monte Cristo Range and is easily accessible by vehicle 6 miles north of US highway 95. The property is part of a large area of alteration within the Gilbert Mining District.
Volcanic hosted, low sulfidation epithermal gold mineralization occurs on the property. Mineralization is hosted in sub-parallel silicified structural zones, veins, fractures and as disseminations into altered wall rock. A preferred zone for the low grade mineralization is near the contact between the underlying sediments of the Ordovician Palmetto formation and overlying Tertiary Castle Peak Rhyolite. High grade gold zones are found in high angle structures interpreted to have been feeder structures for the gold bearing fluids.
The West Castle property has been explored by Felmont Oil in the 1980’s and most recently by Kinross Gold Corporation (Kinross) from 2008 to 2010. Kinross collected 769 surface rock chip samples and drilled 35 reverse circulation holes on three target areas, West Castle, Castle Main and Golden Rod, within the property. The mean gold value for the 769 rock chip samples was report by Kinross to be 579 ppb gold. Drilling by Kinross at the West Castle target identified a coherent zone of shallow, low-grade, oxide gold mineralization from 3 drill holes. The holes intercepted 65 to 90 feet of mineralization averaging 0.196 to 0.490 ppm gold. The mineralization begins at surface and locally is underneath a thin cover of alluvium. Kinross further indicated that the gold in surface rock chip results further defined this area as open-ended and that further surface sampling and drilling is warranted.
The Kinross work at the Castle Main target described it as two zones; a graben zone and a horst zone. Both zones have outcrops with variably continuous and narrow mineralized structures that have returned gold values as high as 9.7 ppm in work by Kinross. Kinross’s drilling focused on the graben zone and the horst zone remains virtually untested by drilling.
District Geology and Mineralization
A number of resources and discoveries have been reported within the Gilbert district where Hecla Mining, Lancore Resources, Timberline Resources and Columbus Gold are active.
Hecla Mining Company controls the Monte Cristo property to the north of West Castle where they report an Inferred resource of 913,000 tons at 4.80 grams per ton for 131,000 contained gold ounces1. Lancore resources have the Charley property northwest of West Castle and report a 70,000 ounce gold2 resource. Timberline’s Castle Black Rock property, to the southeast, reports a current inferred resource at the Castle zone of 14.68 million tonnes at 0.45 grams per tonne gold for 212,000 contained ounces of gold3. Additionally, the Castle Black Property also includes the former Boss Mine which produced approximately 32,000 ounces of gold from 600,000 tons of ore4, the Berg mineralized zone and the Black Rock mineralized zone. A Technical Report written for Seabridge Gold in October 2000 reported historic estimates of 3.5 million tonnes at 0.47 grams per tonne for the Berg & Boss zones and for the Black Rock zone a historic estimate of 532,000 tonnes at 0.46 grams per tonne gold was reported. Golden Predator is not treating the historic estimates as current mineral resources and a qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historic estimates as current. The historic estimates are listed here for information purposes only.
Columbus Gold Corp recently reported an update on its Eastside gold discovery which is located northeast of the Castle Property5 where they state they “located a large area of shallow oxide gold mineralization still open the south that measures 1,000 by 600 meters.”
The Company cautions that there is no guarantee that similar mineralization will be identified on the Company’s project, and the mineralization in these Deposits is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization that may be identified on the Company’s property.
The Agreement
The Agreement, which is subject to TSXV approval, requires payments to Platoro totaling US$175,000 over six years, with annual payments of US$35,000 commencing on the seventh anniversary. Payments to two underlying lessors total US$113,000 over 5 years, with annual payments of $36,000 thereafter. All payments are to be credited against future royalty obligations. Platoro retains a sliding-scale net smelter royalty (“NSR”) of 2.0% to 5.0%. Two underlying lessors have NSR’s from 2% to 3% on portions of the property. Platoro’s NSR will be reduced by royalty payments to the underlying lessors to a floor of 0.5%. Platoro is owned by a director of the Company and therefore the lease is considered a related party transaction in accordance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. However, the transaction is exempt from the requirements for formal valuation and minority approval under MI 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions, as a result of the transaction size. The interested director abstained from voting on the board resolution authorizing the transaction.
To view project maps please visit www.goldenpredator.com
Stock Options
The Company has granted 1,375,000 incentive stock options to Directors, employees, and consultants at an exercise price of $0.20 per share and expiring in three years from the date of grant. The stock options are subject to vesting pursuant to the Company’s stock option plan.
Mr. Mike Maslowski, CPG, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and a consultant for the Company, has reviewed, verified and approved disclosure of the technical information contained in this news release.
Golden Predator Mining Corp.
Golden Predator’s corporate mandate is to advance the Brewery Creek project towards production through a joint venture arrangement. The Brewery Creek mine operated from 1996 to 2002, before closing due to low gold prices. Mining licenses and permits are in place for continued exploration along with a Socio Economic Accord with the Tr'ondek Hwech'in. The Company holds additional projects with current resources and/or new discovery potential, including the high grade 3Aces and Grew Creek gold projects and the Marg & Clear Lake polymetallic massive sulfide deposits.
For additional information:
Greg Hayes, Chief Executive Officer
(587) 524 1599
info@goldenpredator.com
www.goldenpredator.com
1) Hecla 2013 Annual Report Chart of Estimated Mineral Reserves and Resources as of December 31, 2013
2) Lancore website Charley Property
3) NI 43-101 Technical Report “Castle Black Rock Project Castle Zone Resource Evaluation” April 3, 2013 by Bikerman Engineering & Technology Associates.
4) Economic Geology article, 1994 by Diner and Strachan
5) Columbus Gold Press Release May 8, 2014 “Update on Columbus Gold’s Eastside Gold Discovery in Nevada”
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. This press release contains projections and forward-looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties regarding future events. Such forward-looking information can include without limitation statements based on current expectations involving a number of risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. There are numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and the Company’s plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. These and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking information are based on estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking information should circumstances or management's estimates or opinions change.