ASX-listed PolarX has kicked off a series of induced polarisation surveys across its Humboldt Range operation in Nevada as it follows up gold and silver anomalies from its earlier soil-sampling programs.
The surveys will be used to identify targets for follow-up drilling across the company’s Fourth of July and Black Canyon projects as it looks to replicate the multi-million-ounce deposits that sit nearby.
Management says the survey earmarked for its Fourth of July project will be flown over 13.6 line kilometres and is expected to take a month to complete, while the work in the skies above its Black Canyon project will start in early July and will cover 21 line kilometres and should be finished in about six weeks.
The company believes the mineralisation it has crossed to date is hosted in a similar geology to its neighbouring Spring Valley project and Coeur Mining’s Rochester Mine, which sits 15kms away. Rochester has resources of 400 million ounces of silver and 3 million ounces of gold. Spring Valley is just 9km from the PolarX ground and has a resource of 4.1 million ounces of gold.
What remains now is to track down the high-grade veins which have poked their heads up during previous PolarX drilling and also in historical artisanal workings at both of its projects.
PolarX says the Humboldt Range geology is bonanza-style epithermal gold-silver mineralisation and bulk mineable epithermal gold-silver mineralisation, similar to many other deposits in Nevada. Its ground was mined between 1865 and 1927 when the old miners chased narrow high-grade gold veins.
The company’s Humboldt Range operation comprises 364 lode mining claims in Nevada in two claim groups – its Black Canyon and Fourth of July projects.
In February, reverse-circulation (RC) drilling defined structural targets for high-grade gold within a bulk tonnage mineralised system environment. The exploration revealed the extensive low-grade gold mineralisation associated with weak sulphides at its Star Canyon prospec
The precious yellow metal appears to be gaining popularity momentum as debt-ceiling talks in the United States between the White House and Republicans drag on without a proper conclusion. The gold bulls are also gaining strength on the back of the steady interest rate policy by the US Federal Reserve.
Having neighbours throwing up such big numbers is clearly a strong motivator for PolarX to persist with its precious metals search. After its earlier RC drilling provided some alluring results, it will be fascinating to see whether its view from above will locate the targets below the surface that appear to be lurking.
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By Steve Kaless
