Barrick Gold Commences Drilling at Columbus Gold’s Utah Clipper Project, Battle Mountain Gold Trend, Nevada
December 1, 2008 – 3:07 pm | by Banjardaily
Columbusgoldcorp news release on December 01, 2008, that Columbus Gold Corporation (CGT: TSX-V) (”Columbus Gold” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that drilling has commenced at the Company’s Utah Clipper Project where joint venture partner Barrick Gold Exploration Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX: TSE & NYSE) can earn an initial 60% interest by undertaking staged annual exploration expenditures totaling US$6 million over a six year period.
The Utah Clipper Property is located directly adjacent to Barrick Gold Corporation’s Pipeline-Gold Acres gold mine complex, in the Cortez-Pipeline sector of the Battle Mountain Gold Trend, Nevada. Past production plus reserves at Pipeline-Gold Acres exceed 25 million ounces of gold. Barrick’s nearby Cortez Hills deposit discovered in 2003, hosts reserves of more than 10 million ounces of gold. Click here to view property maps.
The current program will consist of approximately 1,829 metres (m) (6,000 feet (ft)) of reverse circulation drilling in 2 holes and is expected to be completed by mid-December.
The geologic setting at Utah Clipper consists of an undetermined thickness 250 to +600 m (800 to +2,000 ft) of siliceous sediments above the regional Roberts Mountain thrust fault and “lower plate” carbonate units hosting the world class “Carlin” style gold deposits of the district.
The principal geologic target at Utah Clipper is high grade, underground mineable Carlin style gold mineralization in “lower plate” carbonates, which has not been adequately tested by past work.
Indirect evidence for the conceptual target includes:
1. Location directly on prolific northwest “trend” of world class deposits in the Cortez-Pipeline area and immediately adjacent to the Pipeline-Gold Acres mine complex.
2. Past drilling on the east side of the Utah Clipper Property intersected favorable lower plate carbonate rocks at depths beginning at 247 m (810 ft) with anomalous gold, silver, and path-finder elements. Deep drilling on the western 4/5 of the property is limited, with only one hole deep enough to intersect the lower plate at 670 m (2,200 ft) of depth.
3. Base metal and silver mineralization at the Utah Camp, Clipper and Boss mines (located within the Utah Clipper Property claim block) associated with controlling north-northwest structures.
4. Magnetic anomaly near east margin of the property indicates aureole of the Gold Acres stock to which the Gold Acres mine is proximal. A second, similar anomaly is centered on Utah Camp (located within the Utah Clipper Property claim block) to the northwest and remains untested.
Andy Wallace is a Certified Professional Geologist (CPG) with the American Institute of Professional Geologists and is the Qualified Person under NI 43-101 who has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release. Mr. Wallace is a VP of Columbus Gold’s U.S. subsidiary and a partner of Cordilleran Exploration Company (”Cordex”), which is conducting exploration and project generation activities for Columbus Gold.
Mor information visit http://www.columbusgoldcorp.com
Website visit http://www.columbusgoldcorp.com