Ridgeline Minerals (TSX-V:RDG, OTCQB:RDGMF) Corp told investors it will continue to advance both its Carlin-East and Bell Creek projects in 2022 as it updated final drill results for the Crash Zone drill program at the former in Nevada.
This year's drill program at Carlin-East had faced challenging conditions and as a result, one hole out of the three planned had reached target depth, the company noted.
"This was a challenging drill program for our team and unfortunately we did not achieve our primary objective of intersecting Lower Plate host rocks at the Crash Zone," Chad Peters, Ridgeline's CEO told investors in a statement.
"Only one-of-three planned holes reached target depths indicating the Crash Zone target has not been adequately tested and we believe there is still potential for a discovery to be made at Carlin-East.
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"Deep drilling is always a challenge in Nevada and demand for drilling services is the highest I've seen in my ten years working in the state."
Peters said it was not in the company or its shareholders' best interests to continue drilling 1,000 plus meter holes at Carlin-East until the firm could "secure a more equitable core drilling contract once the demand for drill rigs has cooled".
"Our land position in the North Carlin Trend remains the largest of any company aside from Nevada Gold Mines and we will continue to strategically advance both Carlin-East and our neighboring Bell Creek project forward in 2022," he added.
One hole was sunk to 1,254 meters (m), said Ridgeline, reaching a minimum target depth of 1,000m or greater.
The hole was interpreted to have drilled the deeper, down-dropped (hanging-wall) side of a major north-west fault zone but did not hit "significant" gold values or the intended Lower Plate carbonate rock package that hosts gold mineralization at multiple open-pit and underground mines on the north Carlin Trend.
Ridgeline is a gold-silver explorer with a proven management team and a 154 square kilometer (sq km) exploration portfolio across four projects in the highly prospective Carlin and Battle Mountain - Eureka Trends in Nevada, USA.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com