Columbus Gold Drills 45.7 Meters of 1.26 g/t Gold 

 

VANCOUVER, BC - Columbus Gold Corp. reported results of the final fourteen (14) holes completed from the 2016 drilling program at its 100% owned Eastside gold project in Nevada. All assay results have been delivered to a third party consultant, Mine Development Associates of Reno Nevada, who are compiling a database and building a three dimensional model to be used in their initial evaluation of the drill results, with a view of completing a maiden resource estimate.

Eastside is a district scale project consisting of 725 claims covering 57.7 sq. km (22.55 sq. miles), in an area of outstanding infrastructure. Significant gold values of up to 27.9 g/t have been obtained in surface sampling at Eastside and so far seven (7) large geochemical anomalies have been identified, however drilling to date has been confined almost exclusively to one target (referred to as the Original Target), in an area of only approximately 1,250 X 800 meters, or about 1 sq. km., of the large 57.7 sq. km land package. Thorough oxidation is remarkably deep at Eastside in certain areas, exceeding 300 meters in places. Preliminary metallurgy indicates that gold at Eastside is amenable to cyanide leaching, whether oxide or sulfide.

Highlights of the last 14 holes include: ES-123 with 9.1 m of 1.05 g/t gold, including 1.1 m of 3.41 g/t gold, and also 22.9 m of 0.39 g/t gold, including 1.2 m of 2.49 g/t gold. Hole lost before targeted depth; ES-124 with 12.2 m of 1.60 g/t gold, including 3.1 m of 5.40 g/t gold, and also 30.5 m of 0.75 g/t gold, including 4.6 m of 3.87 g/t gold, and also 4.6 m of 39.23 g/t silver; ES-125 with 9.1 m of 0.56 g/t gold and 9.1 m of 0.48 g/t gold and 21.3 m of 0.53 g/t gold and 22.9 m of 2.16 g/t gold, including 1.5 m of 18.10 g/t gold; ES-126 with 45.7 m of 1.26 g/t gold, including 4.6 m of 3.41 g/t gold and 7.6 m of 4.25 g/t gold, and also 16.8 m of 79.29 g/t silver, including 1.5 m of 137.11 g/t silver and 3.1 m of 166.84 g/t silver; ES-127 with 27.4 m of 0.57 g/t gold, including 6.1 m of 1.20 g/t gold, and an additional 13.7 m of 0.46 g/t gold; ES-128 with 9.1 m of 0.61 g/t gold and 64 m of 0.81 g/t gold, including 13.7 m of 3.45 g/t gold, and additionally 33.5 m of 20.21 g/t silver, including 7.6 m of 64.04 g/t silver; ES-129 with 36.6 m of 0.42 g/t gold, including 0.6 m of 3.68 g/t gold and 0.5 m of 8.78 g/t gold, and also 22.6 m of 0.57 g/t gold, including 1.5 m of 2.42 g/t gold; ES-130 with 21.3 m of 1.41 g/t gold, including 7.6 m of 3.38 g/t gold, and also 21.3 m of 21.73 g/t silver, including 7.6 m of 76.67 g/t silver; ES-131 with 19.8 m of 0.50 g/t gold and 18.3 m of 0.60 g/t gold, including 3.1 m of 3.38 g/t gold; ES-132 with 77.7 m of 0.53 g/t gold, including 7.6 m of 2.26 g/t gold; and ES-133 with 13.7 m of 0.41 g/t gold and 24.4 m of 0.56 g/t gold, including 3.1 m of 2.61 g/t gold, and also 56.4 m of 0.71 g/t gold, including 1.5 m of 5.48 g/t gold and 3.1 m of 2.75 g/t gold, and additionally 18.3 m of 28.17 g/t silver, including 4.6 m of 74.58 g/t silver.

The 2016 drilling employed one reverse circulation rotary rig and one core drill. Columbus completed 17,500 meters of drilling in 2016 including 12,663 meters of rotary drilling and 4,837 meters of core. Drilling was completed in September 2016. 

Gold and silver mineralization at Eastside occurs in two broad, northerly-trending zones, called the East and West Zones, which coincide with two separate, northerly-trending, rhyolite dome complexes. Both East and West Dome complexes are made up of multiple rhyolite domes. Drilling has established that the strike of significant mineralization extends at least 450 meters on the East Zone and 850 meters on the West Zone. Both zones remain open to depth, to the south, and possibly to the north. Both zones contain numerous parallel northerly structures with minor offsets. These minor structures likely formed upon reactivation of the major northerly fault zones that originally controlled the emplacement of the rhyolite domes. Gold and silver in both zones are associated with silicification and adularia replacement cut by multiphase quartz and adularia veining and stockworks. The rhyolite domes host the bulk of the mineralization but andesite near the dome margins acts as an important host rock as well.

A goal of the last 14 holes was to determine the limits of the East and West Zones, and to determine if the West Zone continues further to the west and to depth below previous holes. Geologic logging, along with the gold values encountered in core holes ES-123 and ES-129, indicate both the East and West Zone remain open to the south, into an undrilled area. Geologic and alteration mapping by Columbus, along with favorable gold and trace element geochemistry in Columbus surface sampling, indicate that favorable geology for gold mineralization extends an additional 1.5 kilometers to the south of the area drilled to date. In addition the West Zone remains open to the southwest and west.