Results At Auric Fulstone Gold Silver Zinc Copper Project
RENO, NV - Itronics Inc. reported that its subsidiary Whitney & Whitney, Inc. has identified strong evidence for a Tertiary polymetallic low sulfidation gold system at the Auric Gold & Minerals, Inc. Fulstone Gold Silver Zinc Copper exploration project in the Yerington Mining District in northwestern Nevada.
The newly identified mineralization is in a valley which is being named “The Golden Valley Prospect”. The Golden Valley Prospect samples are indicating strong gold mineralization accompanied by anomalous silver, zinc, and copper. There is a zone of anomalous gold, silver, and zinc mineralization about 1,000 feet to the north of Golden Valley that is about 1,000 feet by 600 feet in area and a zone of intensely bleached and altered rock about 500 feet east of Golden Valley that is about 1,000 feet by 2,000 feet in area. Both of these zones are believed to be associated with the newly discovered mineralization in Golden Valley and are potentially all part of the newly identified mineralization.
The Golden Valley Prospect is the third gold occurrence to be identified in the Buckskin Range and is the second surface occurrence. The first is a high grade gold-copper surface vein system at the Buckskin Mine about six miles to the south that was discovered in the early 1900’s. The second is a deep high grade copper-gold system about 3 miles to the south that was discovered by Anaconda Copper in the early 1970’s, but that was not developed.
Field examination of a Landsat color anomaly in Golden Valley on which a significantly anomalous gold-in-soil sample was taken revealed a strongly clay-altered and heavily limonite-stained intrusive andesite porphyry subcrop-probably a leached cap, which is so strongly jointed as to appear shattered- adjacent to weakly-stained calc-siltstone. A part of this color anomaly was tested with two traverses of soil-plus-rock samples. The traverses were comprised of 50 foot spaced samples on a 350 foot long Northeast-Southwesterly line, and on a 400 foot long Northwesterly-Southeasterly line, including rock/soil sampling, in the fall of 2018.
Multi-element analyses of 17 follow-up soil plus rock Golden Valley samples indicate that all “grab” samples of the andesite porphyry leached cap and calc-siltstone are anomalous geochemically in gold, silver, zinc, copper, and gold-pathfinder/indicator elements, and potassic clay alteration. All samples showed ppm-detectable gold- with two adjacent samples on altered porphyry showing 14.05 ppm and 0.15 ppm gold. An additional 14 altered porphyry samples and one siltstone sample assayed from 0.006 ppm to 0.058 ppm gold and averaged 0.022 ppm gold. In addition to the gold assays, average values for several gold pathfinder elements indicate an epithermal, low-sulfidation, polymetallic gold system.
The full size of the Golden Valley Prospect has not yet been measured, but immediately to the east of the valley is a seriticized zone of andesite porphyry dikes and plugs that is about 1,000 feet by 2,000 feet in surface area which is believed could be an extension of the Golden Valley mineralization. Another zone of similar surface mineralization in limestones and calcareous siltstones is located about 1,000 feet north of the Golden Valley Prospect. This area which has been recon sampled, but not yet grid sampled is characterized by anomalous ppm levels of gold and is accompanied by abnormally high silver and zinc values. Based on geophysical analysis –both aeromag, and induced polarization- all three of these prospective areas are probably underlain by an intrusive polymetallic mineralizing source. Based on geological interpretation, the mineralization is believed to be of Tertiary geologic age.
The combination of positive geochemistry, geology, and geophysics indicators is such that the Golden Valley Prospect and its associated mineralized zones is a viable target for drilling to measure the scope and content of mineralization in the underlying rocks. There is a high probability that drilling will measure out a large tonnage of rock containing gold, silver, zinc, and copper at this location.
The Yerington Mining District hosts several multi-hundred million ton copper deposits, and is favorable for discovery of additional large deposits. The Fulstone Project is one of the more prospective areas in the district that has not yet been drilled. As a Tertiary polymetallic low sulfidation gold system, it offers the potential for the discovery of near surface gold, silver, zinc, and copper which is quite different and could be much more valuable than other prospects in the district, which are mostly enriched in copper.