TONOPAH PROJECT News Release - August 25, 1997
THREE HILLS PROPERTY
The 1997 Phase One drilling program on the Three Hills property at Tonopah, Nevada, with joint venture partner Prism Resources, is complete and the data is being compiled in order to plan the next phase of drilling. The Phase One program was directed at two types of mineralization: 1. Bulk tonnage disseminated gold targets similar to the Three Hills and Hill of Gold deposits, where the joint venture has outlined a resource of approximately 186,000 ounces, and 2. High grade vein and lode gold-silver deposits extending westward from the adjacent historical underground workings of the Tonopah District, where production totaled 1.8 million ounces gold and 174 million ounces silver.
Three Hills Deposit Drilling
Aside from the exploration drilling, two holes were placed to in-fill on the Three Hills deposit for engineering purposes. Hole TH-97-9 intersected 210 feet of 0.047 oz./ton gold and TH-97-10 cut 70 feet of 0.056 oz./ton gold. A third hole tested an open area along the eastern edge of the deposit and intersected a long interval of anomalous but sub-economic mineralization.
High Grade Vein Model
High grade gold-silver quartz vein and stockwork mineralization in the old workings of the Tonopah District were commonly localized along structures in the hangingwall and footwall of the West End Rhyolite (WER) intrusive sill. The WER is commonly weakly mineralized by extensive quartz stockworks and strong alteration through its 200 to 600 foot thickness in the vicinity of these high grade vein systems. The WER is known to extend for at least two miles westward from the old district across the northern portion of the Three Hills property. Several old workings show evidence of the WER and gold bearing quartz vein mineralization on the property. The WER occurs at depths of 400 to 700 feet to the hangingwall contact. Mining in the district was conducted to depths of at least 1800 feet. The Phase One drilling was only capable of drilling to 800 foot depths and the program was directed at trying to locate both the extension of the WER on the property and the untested up-dip extensions of some of the known veins on the property. Phase Two will be directed at extending the known veins along strike and testing the WER westward across the rest of the property where no past exploration has occurred.
1997 High Grade Vein Exploration Results
The Phase One high grade exploration focused largely in the northeastern portion of the property, in the vicinity of the Keystone, Monarch-Pittsburgh and 76 Mines. Several holes cut long intervals of anomalous trace elements and gold in the WER, indicating proximity to gold bearing veins (e.g. TH-97-23, 415 ft. of 64 ppb Au). Hole TH-97-16, placed to try and locate the up-dip extension of the Merton vein, intersected a 436 foot interval of WER. In this hole, 370 feet of altered WER averaged 70 ppb gold and a 10 foot quartz vein stockwork averaged 0.22 oz./ton gold and 9.0 oz./ton silver. This vein system remains open along strike and has not been drilled down dip for approximately 300 feet to the level of the old workings.
Approximately one mile of largely untested ground remains to be explored for these high grade vein systems. The Phase One program determined that these systems can be located by surface drilling and that extensive areas carry anomalous gold in the WER, suggesting that other undiscovered vein systems likely occur. The large historical data base is now being merged with the new drill information and newly completed surface mapping, in order to plan the next exploration drilling program.
Three Hills Property: Bulk Tonnage Exploration
Several surface, bulk tonnage type, targets were tested but no economic intervals were intersected. The Birds Eye zone, where 1996 drilling intersected long intervals of anomalous gold associated with a rhyolite intrusion breccia, continued to yield similar results. It appears that the structural/stratigraphic setting and the dynamics of the hydrothermal system at this target were not developed adequately to produce economic concentrations of gold. The reconnaissance drilling was successful in outlining previously unknown rhyolitic intrusions associated with gold mineralization. With large areas of thin overburden cover, it is expected that further exploration drilling on blind targets will encounter new mineral zones. Several surface targets remain to be drill tested on the Three Hills property.
HILL OF GOLD PROPERTY
A number of targets remain to be tested on the Hill of Gold property, as well as extension and in-fill drilling on the Hill of Gold deposit. Prism is earning a 50% interest in the Hill of Gold property and has approximately $900,000 left to spend by July 1999 to complete the earn-in.
With moderate improvements in the price of gold, it is management's belief that the Tonopah Project holds strong development potential with its already outlined resources as well as an excellent chance for discovering significant new gold deposits.
For more information please contact 1-888-656-6611 or (604) 681-7913
G. L. Garratt, P. Geo.
Eastfield Resources Ltd. |
