Gold Resource Corp solidifies position in the Walker Lane belt, Nevada as it acquires Golden Mile property

Gold Resource Corporation (NYSEAMERICAN:GORO) has bought the Golden Mile property in Mineral County, Nevada for a total of US$650,000 as the miner positions itself to be a gold producer in the US state for a “very long time”.

The high-grade, advanced, asset adds to the firm’s prospective land package in the state by over 51%, GORO said, and solidifies its Nevada business as dominant in the famous Walker Lane mineral belt.

READ: Gold Resource says restarting Oaxaca Mining operations in Mexico after receiving government approval

Moreover, if the firm successfully defines economic deposits there, the resultant project could be one which would save on permitting time, engineering and construction costs, it added.

The 9,334 acre property, which has open pit potential, contains surface and near surface high-grade gold in two established zones. It lies just 23 miles from the group’s already producing Isabella Pearl mine.

“Our plan with this property, optimistically assuming successful delineation of the known mineralized zones into economic deposits, provides optionality which could include designing and permitting the Golden Mile as a project and process plant without an ADR facility which takes gold loaded carbon into gold doré,” GORO’s CEO Jason Reid said in a statement.

“By only permitting a plant that takes gold to a loaded carbon stage and then hauling the carbon a short distance up the road to our Isabella Pearl mine’s ADR facility for doré production, we could save permitting time, engineering and construction costs and leverage our already permitted and operating ADR facility for plant longevity.  In addition, with the largest known mineralized zone at Golden Mile on patented ground, permitting may take less time than otherwise expected.”

Reid added: “While we are very excited about the district acquisition of the Golden Mile high-grade gold property, we are not taking our eye off the ball for exploration at our East Camp Douglas property and still plan to commence our first drill program this year as scheduled.  We are currently drilling the Scarlet target located next to our operating Isabella Pearl mine.”

Previous third-party drill results from Golden Mile include 10.70 meters (m) of 8.76 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from surface, 36.60 meters of 10.26 g/t gold from 15.20 meters downhole, and 6.10 meters of 46.53 g/t gold from 18.29 meters downhole.

Production records from the 1930s show gold along with minor copper and silver being produced from small open pits and shallow underground workings, GORO noted.

With the acquisition, the firm’s Nevada unit now controls around 27,600 acres of highly prospective exploration ground in the Walker Lane belt.

GORO said it aims to secure exploration drill permits for the property and begin follow-up drill programs soon focusing on the two established mineralized zones, the Golden Mile zone and PS-SP zone.

This is aimed at delineating both into mineable open pit heap leach deposits.

Buiding on the database

“We are looking forward to building on the exploration database and third-party preliminary resources on the Golden Mile property with a near-term goal of delineating at least two high-grade open pit gold deposits,” said GORO’s vice-president of exploration Barry Devlin.

Notably, during due diligence, the firm also commissioned preliminary metallurgical test work which included cyanide bottle-roll tests yielding results of 82% gold recovery, demonstrating that gold mineralization is amenable to cyanide leaching.

The total consideration for the acquisition is US$650,000, consisting of US$550,000 cash and US$100,000 in shares. The sellers retain a net smelter return royalty (NSR) of 3% on future production and GORO has the right to buy down 1% of the NSR on the claims for US$1.5 million.

Gold Resource Corp is a gold and silver producer, developer, and explorer with operations in Oaxaca, Mexico and Nevada, USA.

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Story by ProactiveInvestors