Total Gold Resource of All Drilling PRIOR to the current drill program which will continue fot the next two years..............
PR 25 Feb 04
SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF FIRST DRILLING PROGRAM
GOLDEN PHOENIX MINERALS ANNOUNCES SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF FIRST DRILLING PROGRAM AT MINERAL RIDGE GOLD MINE -- Further Testing Planned; Key Blast Holes Mined -- PR #04-04 RENO, NV, February 25, 2004 – Golden Phoenix Minerals, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: GPXM - News), which specializes in the acquisition and development of deposits in the western United States containing gold, silver, copper and other strategic minerals, announced today it has completed its first drill program at the Mineral Ridge, Nevada, gold mine and assays of all intervals have been completed. Blast holes in the Brodie pit which returned significant gold values have been shot and partially mined with the ore being placed onto the leach pad and high-grade stockpiles.
The Company drilled 20 exploration holes with 3,825 feet drilled, and 76 in-pit blast holes with 1,355 feet drilled. The exploration holes tested seven areas including the Blue Light, Brodie, Oro Monte, Deep Springs, West Drinkwater Deep, East Drinkwater Deep, and the Mary LC.
The exploration area that returned the best results was Blue Light. The five holes drilled into this target returned ore grade gold values in all holes with the best reported being BL-1 with 25 feet of 0.15 ounces gold per ton (opt) beginning at 50 feet (high value of 0.348 opt Au) and BL-4 with 15 feet of 0.62 opt Au beginning at 65 feet (high value of 1.38 opt Au). Cutoff grade for these calculations is 0.02 opt Au.
Drilling only one hole to test a deeper zone in the West Drinkwater found low-grade mineralization in the target. However this hole did penetrate 55 feet of 0.144 opt Au beginning at 35 feet (highest value 0.403 opt Au) in the main Drinkwater ore zone. This mineralization is scheduled for mining this year as the pit is deepened during Golden Phoenix’ planned mining operations.
In the Mary LC area, four holes tested the target to get better definition of an underground mineable ore zone. The best of these holes was LC-2 with 15 feet of 0.471 opt Au beginning at 155 feet (high value of 0.943 opt Au). The other holes showed encouraging values but were not above an underground mining cut-off grade of 0.2 opt Au.
The 76 Brodie blast holes were drilled on 15-foot centers and averaged 15 to 20 feet deep, and were drilled on the south side of the pit to prepare the area for mining.
The best assay reported was 5 feet of 4.7 ounces per ton gold followed by another 5 feet of 1.0 ounce per ton gold. Nearby holes contained similar mineralization but not all blast holes contained high-grade gold ore mineralization. The high-grade has been stockpiled for future processing, while the remaining lower grade mineralization has been sent to the pad for leaching.
“Numerous drill targets remain to be tested on the Mineral Ridge property,” said Steven Craig, Vice President of Golden Phoenix. “We still have the down dip extension of the Drinkwater and Mary deposits, which have either encouraging underground sampling or limited drilling in these open ended targets, the Deep Springs Hill target, step out drilling on the Oro Monte/Chieftain zone, and extensions of the Brodie/Blue Light zone. It is our goal to develop a much larger reserve over time on the property.”
This is data from the old website courtesy of Vinman……
Total Gold Resource of All Drilling
An evaluation of all the drill holes on the Mineral Ridge property returned a significant gold resource. The following table summarizes the resource at both a 0.005 opt Au cutoff grade and 0.035 opt Au cutoff grade.
Deposit: All Drilling
Cutoff: 0.005 opt
Tons of Ore: 11,722,400
Average Au Grade: 0.047 opt
Total Au Ounces: 551,245
Cutoff: 0.035 opt
Tons of Ore: 5,332,600
Average Au Grade: 0.080 opt
Total Au Ounces: 426,971
Gold Deposits
The Mineral Ridge project consists of several gold deposits, which have been defined by drilling and some have been partially mined.
The Drinkwater Deposit is the largest known ore deposit and is located on the northeastern side of the metamorphic and intrusive core complex. It was partially mined by underground methods from the 1860s to the early 1940s and by open pit methods from 1989 to 1999. The ore zones in the Drinkwater deposit have a general strike of N45W and dips about 20 to 25 degrees to the northeast. Drill defined ore zones have a strike length of more than 2500 feet and down dip width of 2000 feet. Two or more gold-bearing shear zones are present at the central portion of the deposit with an individual ore zone thickness of 5 to 40 feet and an overall thickness of more than 100 feet.
The Mary deposit is also located on the northeastern side of the metamorphic and intrusive complex and east of the Drinkwater deposit. It is the second largest known deposit on Mineral Ridge. This deposit was partially mined by underground methods before the 1940s along with the Drinkwater deposit, but it was not touched by the recent open-pit mining operations. Ore zones in the Mary deposit have a similar strike and dip as those in the Drinkwater deposit with a drill controlled strike length of over 2000 feet and down-dip with of 1500 feet. These ore zones are thinner and less continuous, but tend to be higher in gold grade than those in the Drinkwater deposit.
The Gold Wedge deposit is located at the top of the Mineral Ridge and the metamorphic and intrusive core complex, and southwest of the Drinkwater deposit. It consists of several small and nearly horizontal orebodies, which have been mined by both underground and open-pit methods. Any remaining resources in this deposit are not available for further mining as the location has been utilized for the leach pads and processing facilities.
The Brodie deposit is also located on the top of the Mineral Ridge and the metamorphic intrusive core complex, and south of the Gold Wedge deposit. It is a small deposit with nearly horizontal ore zones. The deposit has been partially mined in the past, but there still remains a small drill-defined reserve. Ore zones in this deposit are still open in several directions, which indicates a potential to increase the reserve.
The Solberry and Blue Lite deposits are small satellite deposits located southwest of the Gold Wedge deposit. There is a small drill defined reserve in these deposits.
Ore Reserves
The Mineral Ridge gold mine has several small gold deposits that form the reserve base. The following table summarizes each deposit. The cutoff grade for the reserve calculation is 0.035 opt gold.
Deposit / Cutoff / Tons of Ore / Average Au Grade / Total Au Ounces
Drinkwater / 0.035 opt / 1,618,247 / 0.074 opt / 119,746
Mary / 0.035 opt / 773,996 / 0.095 opt / 73,368
Brodie / 0.035 opt / 120,712 / 0.059 opt / 7,127
Solberry/ Blue Lite / 0.035 opt / 145,385 / 0.062 opt / 8,985
Total 2,658,340 tones of ore @ 0.079 opt for 209,226 ozs Au
Exploration Potential
The Mineral Ridge gold property has produced over 626,000 ounces of gold from two distinctly different types of deposits. The most important is the mesothermal gold quartz veins and adjacent silicified zones that historically have been recognized as the only gold producing system on the property. The mesothermal veins generally lie conformably at or above the granite contact with the lower Wyman formation. The early miners exploited these high-grade veins by underground mining methods and more recently by open pit mining.
The second most important gold producing system is the recently recognized epithermal quartz-sulfide veins, breccias and related mineralization that overprints the earlier mesothermal veins. The epithermal quartz-sulfide veins and breccias occupy late cross structures formed while the Mineral Ridge core complex was being uplifted from the ductile to the brittle environment. These veins have not been previously recognized, but are distinct and have probably made significant contributions to the total gold inventory of the district.
An analysis of the various favorable geological features associated with the two types of veins has been completed. These include defining the different types of gold veins and when they formed, performing a structural reconstruction of the host rocks through time, and identifying the extent of the favorable geological environment that gold deposits could be found. This work then allowed certain conclusions for discovering significant new gold mineralization in previously unrecognized targets.
The exploration potential was analyzed by identifying both mesothermal and epithermal targets. The 5 targets that were identified have potential for the discovery of 3.0 to 4.7 million ounces of gold. These targets are 1) the down dip extension of the Mary Drinkwater zone, 2) the up dip extension of the Mary Drinkwater zone under Deep Springs Hill, 3) The NNE structural zone trending through the Drinkwater deposit, 4) the Brodie NNE structural zone to Oro Monte, and 5) the Brodie-Missouri WNW structural zone. By drilling these targets, the mineable ore reserves held on the property will increase significantly.
Older Reports on Exploration Potential
Several large reputable companies such as Freeport Exploration and Sunshine Mining have studied this district. The primary reason these companies did not pick up the project is the relatively small reserve and resource potential by their standards or it was outside the commodities, which make up their primary business.
A study by Freeport Exploration in 1979 identified a potential of up to 19 million tons of ore at a grade of 0.16 opt Au. If their projections were true then we would have a possible expansion of up to 16 million tons of ore containing a geologic resource of 2.5 million ounces of gold, which would extend the mine life at proposed production rates by up to 15 years. This expansion would also allow an increase in production rate without expansion of the processing facilities, which has a larger capacity than is being proposed. In 1980 E. J. Collord discussed the potential extension of the underground workings of the Mary mine that consists of 1-3 million tons of 0.3 opt gold. As stated in the report it was also concluded that there was a good chance of delineating another deposit in the 8-mile long Wyman formation on Mineral Ridge.
A second possible expansion of the production is exploiting the underground potential, which is known to exist from existing drilling below the ultimate pit as designed. The Drinkwater deposit has a measured resource of 253,948 tons with a grade of 0.222 ounces per ton gold at a 0.1 opt cut off. The Mary mine has a measured resource of 195,731 tons with a grade of 0.285 ounces per ton at a 0.1 opt cut off. This would add 111,955 ounces to the resource base if we pursued an underground operation in the area, which is a viable expansion of the mining operation. One aspect of the underground potential, which has been overlooked by previous operators, is the underground sampling of stopes and drifts, which show good mineralization remaining in the walls, and the back fill of the older stopes. These stopes were sometimes back filled with low-grade material at that time; some of the reported grades of the back fill are as high as 0.5 ounces per ton gold.
There is a possibility of significant increases in the potential resource of the deposit by just re-evaluating the existing data and conducting modern exploration of the remainder of the district. The overall potential could reach 3 million ounces of gold. This is based on work completed by other companies who have evaluated the district and these projections show the tremendous upside potential of the district.
golden-phoenix.com |
