New High-Grade Gold Zone Intersected At Pamlico

VANCOUVER - Newrange Gold Corp. announced that continued Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling at the Pamlico Project in Nevada has discovered high-grade, oxide gold mineralization approximately 85 meters east of the Merritt Zone.  Hole P21-115, drilled at -60°, intersected several high-grade structures assaying up to 22.35 grams gold per metric tonne (g/t Au) over 1.5 meters surrounded by lower grade halos, very similar in nature to the Merritt Zone itself.  

The uppermost zone of gold mineralization starts at 15.2 meters downhole, returning 4.38 g/t Au over 13.7 meters, including 12.47 g/t Au over 4.5 meters from 16.77 to 21.34 meters.  Other high-grade intervals of note include 5.52 g/t Au over 7.62 meters from 92.99 to 100.61 meters, including 22.35 g/t Au from 94.51 to 96.04, and 13.01 g/t Au over 1.5 meters from 123.48 to 125.00 meters.  The rocks between these zones are variably mineralized such that the entire 123.5 meter interval averages 1.13 g/t Au.  All mineralization is within 117 meters of surface.

It is not yet clear if this new zone is continuous with the Merritt Zone, which was previously thought to have been cut off to the east in the direction of hole P21-115.  A follow-up drill program is being planned in order to determine the attitude, size and true width of the new zone which remains open to the north and east and to depth.  This new mineralized zone is completely oxidized and, being so close to surface, is well within common open-pit mining limits.

“The discovery of more high-grade gold mineralization close to the Merritt Zone is an exciting development and appears to validate our hypothesis that multiple high-grade zones surrounded by halos of lower grade exist over a much broader area,” said, Robert Archer, CEO.  “While historic mining may have removed some gold from the hills, we are confident that other, buried zones remain to be found.  Our new, intrusive-related exploration model is being validated by drill-testing of Induced Polarization (IP) targets and the extension of the geophysical survey to cover the entire property is indicating that the entire system may be several kilometers in size.”  

A good exploration model comprises both empirical (fact-based) and genetic (theoretical) components.  As field work progresses, data are fed into the model and it is constantly being refined in an iterative manner in order to maximize the odds of success.  Given the association of gold mineralization with pyrite at Pamlico and the depth of oxidation, IP has been critical in detecting remnant pyrite below the oxidation level that could give clues as to the distribution and even the origin of the pyrite-gold mineralization.  To this end, the RC drill holes targeting shallow IP anomalies in the ‘Line 5 area’ of the property have confirmed the presence of fine-grained pyrite and a relatively flat-lying series of ‘stacked’ zones of gold mineralization.

Drill holes P20-111 and 112 and P21-113 and 116 were all drilled in the area of hole P20-091 that first detected the gold-pyrite association near the western margin of the large ‘Line 5’ IP anomaly.  These holes have now collectively defined gold mineralization starting at a consistent vertical depth of 110-120 meters and, in most cases, continuing to the bottom of the holes.  The mineralization appears to be consistent over a distance of at least 200 meters east-west but has only been defined over a distance of about 50 meters in a north-south direction.  Gold grades and intercept lengths appear to be increasing to the east, towards the ‘main’ chargeability anomaly.  The uppermost zone ranges in thickness from 30 to 80 meters and higher-grade sections are typically found at or near the upper and/or lower boundaries.  Individual 1.5 meter samples attain grades of up to 3.83 g/t Au while thicker intervals include 0.75 g/t Au over 18 meters within 0.4 g/t Au over 50.3 meters in hole P20-091 and 0.58 g/t Au over 35 meters in hole P20-111. Several other flat-lying zones exist below this in the 0.25-0.35 g/t Au range over thicknesses of 4.5 to 21.0 meters.  

As this is the first time that this style of mineralization has been found on the property, it is unknown whether these grades and thicknesses are representative but the continuity of the mineralization and the apparent increase in grade towards an anomaly that is at least 1,000 meters north-south and hundreds of meters wide is very encouraging.  Two vertical holes, P21-120 and P21-121, recently drilled from the top of the limestone ridge overlying the main anomaly were successful in penetrating the limestone into the underlying volcanic rocks.  The latter contain disseminated pyrite in both holes and copper mineralization was observed in hole P21-121.  Assays are pending for both of these holes.