The first phase of drilling at Eclipse Gold’s (CVE: EGLD) Hercules gold project in Nevada within the Walker Lane trend, 40 km southeast of Reno, has returned long intercepts of shallow gold in oxides.
The drill highlights include 74.7 metres of 0.54 g/t gold and 4.78 g/t silver (0.6 g/t gold-equivalent) starting at surface from the Cliffs target as well as 89.9 metres of 0.65 g/t gold and 12.51 g/t silver (0.81 g/t gold-equivalent) and 59.4 metres of 0.59 g/t gold and 6.74 g/t silver (0.68 g/t gold-equivalent) from the Hercules target.
“The Hercules gold project in Nevada is beginning to take shape as an exciting new gold district in Nevada and we are delighted with these drill results being in hand so quickly after listing in Feb. 2020,” Michael Allen, the company’s president, CEO and director, said in a release.
Eleven of the 12 reverse circulation drill holes completed as part of this first phase of drilling returned oxide gold mineralization.
These were completed at the Hercules, Northeast, Loaves, Cliffs and Rattlesnake targets, all of which returned gold assays.
Eleven of the 12 reverse circulation drill holes completed as part of this first phase of drilling returned oxide gold mineralization
In addition, Eclipse indicated that the mineralizing system at Hercules appears to strengthen to the south with the gold mineralization potentially similar to that at other large-scale low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver systems within the Walker Lane trend.
“Evaluating these drill results allowed us to develop a model suggesting the presence of a mineralized system that is strengthening to the south, potentially expanding the footprint of mineralization beyond what we had previously envisioned,” Warwick Board, the company’s VP of exploration, added.
“This is in addition to the gold targets outlined following the consolidation of several historical databases for the property, the scale and tenor of which was confirmed by our drilling.”
One hole also identified a potential new target with follow-up work planned. Eclipse is currently working to finalize its next steps for the site with plans for a near-term geophysical survey to identify any potential extensions of the gold mineralization.
Eclipse Gold’s 85-sq.-km Hercules property includes a total of seven target areas, five of these have been drilled to date. The company has identified a higher-grade core at the Hercules target.
The Hercules property has been explored in the past by multiple operators and features a database of over 200 drill holes. The company has a Plan of Operations permit in place, allowing for up to 200 drill sites. Historical metallurgical results suggest that the mineralization may be amendable to heap leaching.
The company started trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange in February.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
