Fortitude Gold intercepts 20.10 meters of 3.60 grams per tonne gold at its Golden Mile property in Nevada

Fortitude Gold Corp (OTCQB:FTCO) shared promising resource delineation drill results from its Golden Mile property in Mineral County, Nevada, which showed high-grade intercepts, which included 20.10 meters (m) grading 3.60 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, and 21.21m grading 2.77 g/t gold.  

In a statement Wednesday, the gold producer and explorer with operations in Nevada, said engineering and metallurgical test work evaluating and targeting an open-pit heap leach operation are underway. 

“Drilling over 20 meters of 3.60 grams per tonne gold less than one meter below the surface underscores Golden Mile’s potential to become an open-pit mine,” Fortitude Gold CEO Jason Reid said in a statement. 

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“We are moving the property forward on numerous fronts towards a potential production decision, including a second drill campaign to further delineate an initial Golden Mile resource, ongoing engineering of the open pit design, initiation of metallurgical heap leach test work and we are conducting baseline and other studies in preparation for project permit submissions.”

Reid noted that column leach tests currently underway are expected to define the mineral’s heap leachable characteristics to help engineer the correct process needed to recover the gold.

“The preferred project design under evaluation is an open-pit heap leach operation taking gold to carbon and then transporting loaded carbon to the nearby Isabella Pearl project’s ADR plant for final dore production,” added Reid.

“While several project due diligence items remain, it is exciting to see the developing potential at Golden Mile and at what could become Fortitude Gold’s second open-pit heap leach gold mine.”

A confirmation and delineation drill program in December of 2020 was Fortitude’s first drill campaign at Golden Mile. It not only confirmed the historic third-party high-grade drill results, but further delineated the gold mineralization and associated geologic structures.

The 4,294 hectares (10,611 acres) Golden Mile property was acquired in June 2020 and it contains two known zones of mineralization —  the Golden Mile and Spring areas. The Golden Mile mineralization is located on five patented claims and includes a database of more than 100 historic third-party exploration drill holes.

Fortitude’s initial drill program included nine confirmation and delineation diamond core holes confirming a portion of the historic drill hole database. In addition, four large-diameter PQ 6-inch diamond core holes were drilled for confirmation and metallurgical testing.

“We are very pleased to have confirmed and further delineated the high-grade gold mineralization at Golden Mile,” said Barry Devlin, vice president of exploration, at Fortitude Gold.

“In addition to validating a portion of the historic drill database, we have obtained sufficient material for column leach testing and that material is now at a third-party metallurgical process services company specializing in heap leaching.”

Devlin said the company is “excited” to begin its second drill campaign to further delineate and expand this mineralization.

“While there is a fault structure controlling the mineral to the southwest, the mineralization is open at depth and along strike,” added Devlin. “Our next drill program targets expanding and pulling more mineral into the initial resource and open pit shell design.”

Fortitude Gold’s Nevada mining unit consists of five high-grade gold properties in the Walker Lane Mineral Belt, with the Isabella Pearl gold mine in production.

Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at [email protected]

Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive

Story by ProactiveInvestors