PolarX Ltd (ASX:PXX) has verified the presence of high gold and silver grades up to 37 g/t gold and 1590 g/t silver at several sites following having received assay results from its due-diligence sampling program at the Humboldt Range Gold-Silver Project in Nevada, USA.
The sampling was undertaken by PolarX as part of its current option to acquire a mining lease agreement over the highly prospective Humboldt Range project, comprising 177 lode mining claims in two groups – Black Canyon and Fourth of July.
It finalises the technical due diligence on the highly prospective but under-explored project where previous results included up to 3,384 g/t gold.
Sample locations and assay results in Black Canyon claims - due diligence assays depicted in black text on yellow.
Legal due diligence on track for completion this quarter with field work scheduled to start in April.
Humboldt lies between two large-scale active mines: the Florida Canyon gold mine, and the Rochester silver-gold mine and contains geology consistent with bonanza-style epithermal gold-silver mineralisation and bulk mineable epithermal gold-silver mineralisation, both of which are well known in Nevada.
Sample location and assay results in Fourth of July claims - PolarX has commenced staking additional claims to consolidate the land holding in this area, including over the samples denoted with an asterisk. Due diligence assays depicted in black text on yellow
Evaluation of vein sets
PolarX intends to immediately begin an evaluation of the length and continuity of the vein sets to determine whether high-grade mineable widths and tonnages are present, along with an evaluation of whether the altered rock between the veins contains economically viable grades of gold and silver amenable to bulk mining.
The project is set to complement the company’s Alaska Range Project, providing a longer field season (April-December) for another high-quality project in a tier-1 jurisdiction which can be serviced by the company’s existing consultants.
Key findings of previous exploration
Limited previous exploration data is available for the Humboldt Range claims other than limited exploration Victoria Gold Corp, who briefly evaluated the area between July 2005 and July 2009.
PolarX’s representatives visited the claims in late November 2020 and validated several of the Victoria Gold Corp sample locations.
Ten samples were collected at these locations, and assay results have confirmed the presence of high grades of gold and silver providing strong validation of the previous exploration data and allowing PolarX to finalise its technical due diligence on the project.
Key findings of the previous exploration and review of sporadic records from historical mining are:
- The project contains volcanic rocks of the Koipata formation, with limestones emplaced both above and below the volcanic rocks;
- Host rocks are strongly silicified over widths up to 5 times the thickness of the veins or more;
- Previous studies have indicated that the strongly altered host rock can also carry good gold values up to 2 metres away from 20-30 centimetres wide veins;
- No exploration for limestone-hosted Carlin-style gold mineralisation has been undertaken to date on the claims;
- PolarX intends to evaluate these structural corridors to determine if modern-scale bulk mineable widths and grades are present - this will include geological mapping, rock chip and channel sampling and ground geophysics (IP to detect resistivity highs associated with the silicification); and
- The company has started staking around 100 additional lode claims in the Fourth of July area to consolidate the land holdings.