ASX-listed PolarX is gearing up to drill test further gold-silver prospects at its Humboldt Range Project in Nevada, USA, with a 3000 metre reverse circulation program planned to start in the next few weeks. Ten holes will test three targets in the Fourth of July claims, with another ten holes planned for targets at Star Canyon.
PolarX is still awaiting assay results for its exploration programs at Caribou Dome, Star Canyon and Black Canyon. The company has created a duplicate set of samples for the Alaskan copper mineralisation intersected in drill core at Caribou Dome that have been airfreighted to a new laboratory in Reno, Nevada. Results are expected later this quarter. Management is hoping this will provide greater certainty on delivery of assay results. Assays for the Nevada channel and soil samples are also expected later this quarter.
The company’s Humboldt Range project currently comprises 318 lode mining claims in Nevada in two claim groups, Black Canyon and Fourth of July. It is situated between two large-scale active mines; the Florida Canyon gold mine and the Rochester silver-gold mine. Access to the project is via roads off the main interstate highway, which lies less than 15 kilometres to the west of the claims.
Three targets have been prioritised for 2022 drilling at the Fourth of July claims. Ten holes for 1500m will be drilled into these gold-silver targets and drilling is expected to take 4 to 6 weeks.
The Lucky Dog target comprises a known quartz vein hosting high grade silver and gold mineralisation which dips gently to the north. The vein occurs near the base of the Prida Formation and is comprised of clastic carbonates, which is one of the most common locations for high-grade mineralisation in the claim block. Two drill holes will test this target.
The Wheeler Veins target occurs in an area of numerous and extensive historical workings and in a similar geological setting to Lucky Dog. A single hole will test the thickness and grade of the vein near
the peak of the surface gold-in-soil geochemical anomaly.
The Arizona Graben Fault target is a mammoth target approximately 2kms long and drilling will test the intersection of the steeply west dipping Arizona Graben Fault with the sub-horizontal area that gently dips to the east, particularly the base of the Prida Formation and the upper part of the underlying Rochester Rhyolite. The company assumes mineralisation in the region has been formed from fluids that were channelled along the Arizona Graben Fault. There are known high-grade silver-gold veins where these fluids migrated into the basal parts of the Prida Formation, however remarkably, the Prida package itself immediately adjacent to the fault and the rocks immediately above and below have never been drilled. PolarX has seven holes planned to test this target.
Additionally, a further 10 reverse circulation holes for a total of 1500m are planned to test the most prominent gold target in the Black Canyon claims, including the Star Canyon prospect where an area of strongly elevated gold-in-soil sampling is associated with intensely silicified outcrop containing hundreds of mm to cm-scale hydrothermal quartz veins and several historical workings.
Additional drill targets exist in the Black Canyon claims however they require further planning and permitting where access may not be suitable for large drill rigs.
The geology of the Humboldt Range is consistent with bonanza-style epithermal gold-silver mineralisation and bulk mineable epithermal gold-silver mineralisation, both of which are well known in Nevada. Widespread, narrow, high-grade epithermal quartz veins of varying thickness with common visible gold occur within the claims, which were historically mined via numerous adits and underground workings between 1865 and 1927. Gold-bearing veins typically occur in swarms or as isolated veins but can manifest as broad zones of sheeted or anastomosing veins within zones of intensely altered and mineralised host rocks.
With a flurry of well-planned drill targets Polar X looks to be off to a ripping start to the year and if the assay results from last year’s drill match expectations, then this could be PolarX’s golden year.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Matt Birney
