NevGold (NAU.V) has released the (partial) assay results from the first three holes drilled on the Nutmeg Mountain project in Idaho. Hole 1 was a difficult hole as the initial hole was lost when it was still in mineralization, and hole 1a had a poor core recovery. Nonetheless, the assay results were interesting with an interval of almost 24 meters containing 0.56 g/t (including 11.4 meters of 0.89 g/t gold) in the initial hole, followed by two separate intervals with 53 meters of 0.20 g/t and 24 meters containing 0.28 g/t in hole 1a. While those grades would potentially meet the anticipated cut-off grade for a large heap leachable gold system in Idaho, all eyes were on hole NMD003 for obvious reasons.
The company intersected 79 meters of 0.72 g/t gold from a depth of just 10.4 meters, including a higher grade interval of 13.4 meters containing 2.32 g/t from 25.6 meters down hole. This hole confirmed the continuity of the in-pit mineralization but what was more intriguing was the company mentioning it encountered a hydrothermal vein-breccia zone which could potentially be a feeder structure. There are two distinct zones at a down-hole depth of 251 meters and 469 meters respectively and assay results for those two zones are expected sometime in May, when the assay results of some of the other zones should also be available.
The initial purpose of this drill program was to drill-test the area directly under the current pit shell as those would be the easiest and fastest ounces to add to a resource with an immediate accretive impact on a potential future development plan. We will catch up with NevGold in Europe next week and may provide a more comprehensive update afterwards.
Disclosure: The author has a long position in NevGold. NevGold is a sponsor of the website. Please read our disclaimer.
