VR Resources Ltd (TSX-V:VRR, OTCQB:VRRCF) has revealed that it is on the ground completing final preparations for first pass drilling at its Amsel gold-silver project, in Nevada.
The Vancouver-based established junior exploration company said that field crews cleared the main access road and prepared drill sites in the last two weeks of January. The drill is expected to arrive on the site this week to kickoff drilling.
In a statement, VR Resources CEO Dr Michael Gunning said: “The company has four years of exploration under its belt at Amsel and along the 20 kilometer (km) long trend of gold-silver veins within the Big Ten caldera. High-grade veins at the Danbo property were our initial focus, but it is the Amsel property that has produced by far the most compelling and integrated target for a large-scale epithermal gold-silver system.”
The VR Resources boss pointed out that he has previously drawn a sharp correlation between the Amsel target and the nearby Round Mountain deposit, a 120-year mining operation which has now produced more than 20 million ounces (Moz) of gold in a ‘Six Minute CEO’ video interview.
Dr Gunning said VR is taking a two-stage approach to first-pass drilling, starting with the northern part of the target this winter, and then testing the larger southern part of the anomaly on the southern hillslope this summer.
The integrated target at Amsel is new; it has never been drilled historically. Despite easy road access to the property, historic exploration focused on the hilltop. However, VR said its target is the core of the epithermal system below this mineralized and altered cap, directly analogous to Round Mountain.
Having received the Plan of Operations permit in November, VR is now planning the first-pass drilling of Amsel in two phases.
Phase I will explore the North IP anomaly with a short initial program of 4-to-6 holes in February-March. The topography and road access of the north anomaly are amenable for safe and effective drilling under winter conditions at elevation. The company said the north IP anomaly is being targeted as a “structurally controlled precious metal bonanza zone” that typically occurs below the boiling level in epithermal systems.
Phase II will explore the South IP anomaly and the Grove anomaly with a longer program of six to 10 holes planned for early summer, when conditions are safer for efficient drilling on the eastern and southwestern flanks of the hilltop at Amsel, where the Grove and the South IP anomalies occur, respectively.
VR Resources has its flagship Big Ten project in Nye County in west-central Nevada. There are currently seven properties along the 20 km length of the Big Ten mineral trend and they total 117 claims covering 2,417 acres. Each property is a single, contiguous claim block owned by VR.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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