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  4. Fiore approves US$2 million drilling programme for Gold Rock project

Fiore approves US$2 million drilling programme for Gold Rock project

Published by , Assistant Editor
Global Mining Review,

Fiore Gold Ltd (Fiore) has announced that its Board of Directors has approved a US$2 million programme of metallurgical test work and resource expansion drilling at its Gold Rock project in Nevada in support of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) targeted for year-end 2019. Gold Rock, which is located approximately 8 miles (13 km) southeast of Fiore’s Pan mine, is one of the only federally-permitted development projects in Nevada, having received its Record of Decision (ROD) in late 2018 from the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the construction of a mine, process facilities and other infrastructure. The programme will be funded entirely from cash flow from the company’s nearby Pan mine.

Gold Rock currently hosts an Indicated resource of 238 700 gold ounces (9.0 million t at 0.82 g/t gold) and an Inferred resource of 180 900 gold ounces (7.8 million t at 0.72 g/t gold). The mineral resource is centred around the former

Easy Junior opencast mine and covers approximately 3.1 km of a 16.5 km long trend of prospective geology, structure, and alteration with pervasive gold and pathfinder element anomalies in soil and rock samples. The resource grade at Gold Rock is approximately 60% higher than at the nearby Pan mine.

Fiore’s technical team has prepared a detailed development plan for Gold Rock that lays out the drilling, metallurgical testing, engineering, state permitting, and other activities required to advance the project towards production.

The plan aims to arrive at a construction decision by mid-2021, assuming successful completion of these activities and a positive feasibility study. Based on its experience operating the nearby Pan Mine, the company intends to proceed directly from the PEA to a Feasibility Study in order to shorten the development timeframe.

The first steps in this programme will consist of:

Approximately 30 000 ft (10 000 m) of core and reverse circulation drilling to expand the existing resource, upgrade Inferred resources to Measured and Indicated, and collect samples for orebody characterisation and metallurgical testing. A priority target will be the central portion of the 2018 resource area, between the two resource pits. This area was not included in the current resource and has seen only limited, widely spaced, vertical holes that in many cases stopped in the upper portion of the mineralisation. The deposit also remains open to the north and south of the existing resource area, where drilling density drops off rapidly. The drilling programme is fully permitted and is scheduled to begin in June 2019.

Metallurgical testing to determine the most economical recovery method(s) and establish expected gold recoveries. Testing is currently underway at RDi Mining Consultants in Colorado, with results expected in calendar 3Q19; and

Collecting additional data to support a Preliminary Economic Assessment targeted for completion by year-end 2019.

Tim Warman, Fiore’s CEO stated: “We’re very excited to be starting the drilling and metallurgical programmes at Gold Rock in support of a PEA later this year, and we’re especially pleased that we’re able to fund the work internally thanks to the strong performance of our nearby Pan mine. With the federal permits for mining and processing issued last year, the timeframe for development of Gold Rock is largely in our hands. While we envision Gold Rock as a stand-alone mine, we are exploring opportunities to utilise the considerable infrastructure already in place at Pan including the existing carbon handling and refinery facilities as well as the power line, which passes less than eight miles (13 km) from Gold Rock.

Gold rock geology

The Gold Rock deposit is a Carlin-style, sedimentary rock-hosted, disseminated gold deposit within Mississippian limestone and siltstone units, namely the Joana Formation Limestone and the overlying Chainman Formation Shale, located along an eastern spur of the Pancake Range. The primary host is the Joana Limestone, but significant mineralisation is also hosted in the overlying Chainman Shale with minor mineralisation in the Pilot Shale.

The currently identified resource occupies a N12E to N15E trend that extends from 300 m north of the Easy Junior pit to the lower reaches of Meridian Ridge to the south, a strike length of over 3.1 km. Altered bedrock and surface gold anomalies extend well beyond the mineralisation envelope defined by drilling to the north and the south, extending nearly the entire 12.9 km length of the property.

The company's corporate strategy is to grow Fiore Gold into a 150 000 oz/yr gold producer.

To achieve this, the company intends to:

  • grow gold production at the Pan mine while also growing the reserve and resource base;
  • advance exploration and development of the nearby Gold Rock project; and
  • acquire additional production or near-production assets to complement our existing operations.

    • Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/exploration-development/31052019/fiore-approves-us2-million-drilling-programme-for-gold-rock-project/

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