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Trend Project
This exciting project is adjacent to the Barrick/Kennecott Cortez J.V. in north central Nevada:
Adjoins southern end of Cortez Joint Venture which contains an estimated 20 million ounces of gold
Recent reports show Cortez Hills area resources/reserves in the order of 10 million ounces of gold
The Trend Project lies approximately 8 kilometers south southeast of Cortez Hills and is on strike with the lineation of known deposits within the district
Drilling by previous joint venture partner shows strong evidence of a large hydrothermal system
Location
The Trend Project consists of a number of claims that abuts the southern end of the Cortez Joint Venture in north central Nevada. This Barrick-Kennecott joint venture controls over 30 million ounces of gold in reserves/resources and has made a significant discovery at Cortez Hills, which stands in the order of 10 million ounces of gold and is reported to be expanding. The Trend Project lies approximately 8 kilometers south southeast of Cortez Hills and on strike with the lineation of known deposits within the district.
The Company acquired the Trend Project in July 2003 on the basis of its favorable proximity adjoining the south end of the Cortez Joint Venture (Cortez JV), in north central Nevada. The Cortez JV, which is currently made up of Barrick Gold (60%) and Kennecott (40%), controls a large land position (Cortez District) that covers a 35 kilometer segment of the northwest striking Battle Mountain-Eureka mineral belt (The Trend). The belt is host to several "Carlin Type" occurrences with reported reserves and resources totaling over 20 million ounces of gold. The most recent discovery in the district, Cortez Hills, is one of the southern most known deposits. Barrick has reported over 10 million ounces of gold at Cortez Hills. The Trend Project is situated only 8 kilometers SSE of the Cortez Hills discovery and on strike with the lineation of known deposits within the Cortez JV.
In 2008, joint venture partner, Calibre Mining held the property and completed significant technical work as well as 1,524 meters of drilling in four core holes. Their drilling revealed significant evidence of hydrothermal activity with quartz, pyrite and anomalous metals. However, their work did not identify significant gold values and Calibre returned the property to the Company.
During much of 2005 and 2006 the Trend Project was held through a joint venture agreement with Agnico Eagle (USA) Ltd. who completed significant work on the property. Their initial efforts included a combination of geochemistry and geologic work along with interpretations of detailed aeromagnetic and ground-based gravity. Four main target areas were identified with three of the areas associated with south-southeast trending splays of the Cortez fault system as they project southerly along the trace of the Battle Mountain-Eureka mineral belt. A fourth target was identified within the eastern portion of the property where geophysics predicted a possible horst block with bounding fault structures offering potential host environments for mineralization. In 2005, as a preliminary test of these target areas, four reverse circulation drill holes were completed. The holes ranged from 549 meters (1800 ft.) to 652 meters (2140 ft.) in depth with one testing a bounding fault of the horst block and three positioned to evaluate predicted splays of the Cortez fault system. Overall results were encouraging as the more westerly three holes (#1, #2 and #3) providing strong indications of a mineralized hydrothermal system. All showed broad zones of silica flooding, quartz veining, strong alteration, disseminated and vein related sulfides and significant thicknesses of anomalous gold. The eastern most hole was not mineralized but did intercept favorable lower plate rocks.
In September 2009 the Company reduced the size of its claim block to 19. The Trend Project remains a quality exploration opportunity within a world class mineral belt.
In the early 1990's a small group called Trend Resources conducted Landsat interpretations over the project area that defined subtle structural zones in a pediment area along The Trend and a number of northwest and northeast structural intersections were located. This approximately 10 square-mile, structurally permissive area, was then tested by an extensive enzyme leach soil sampling program. The results of this study were interpreted by Dr. J. Robert Clark of Enzyme-ACTLABS, LLC who felt there was a strong likelihood that structurally controlled epithermal systems exist at depth. Further, gravity data of the area suggests that the geochemical anomalies lie at reasonable depths to support exploration drilling for deposits similar to those being discovered by the Cortez JV to the north and northeast.
From 2004-2006, Agnico Eagle (USA) Ltd. completed two field seasons of investigations that included the acquisition of detailed aeromagnetic data and achievement of a ground-based gravity survey over the project area and surrounding ground. This work, combined with past and recent geochemistry and geologic data, prioritized potentially mineralized fault structures associated with the southerly extension of the Cortez fault system. From this information Agnico prioritized four target areas for drill testing.
Agnico permitted eight drill sites over the property and in 2005 drilled one hole in each of the four main targets. The drilling was by reverse circulation and was sampled on 10 foot intervals. The holes ranged from 1800 feet to 2140 feet in depth. Drill holes #1 through #3 were entirely drilled in upper plate, siliceous-assemblage sedimentary rocks. Drill hole #4, the eastern most hole, intersected lower plate, carbonate assemblage stratigraphy.
At the conclusion of their 2005 field season Agnico was optimistic that lower-plate targets could be identified between hole #1 and #4, and, in the hopes of narrowing this down, Agnico conducted 14 line kilometers of magnetotellurics (MT) on two lines within the Trend Project area. Agnico concluded that hole #1 was drilled west of an important north-south trending splay of the Cortez fault system that down drops upper plate rocks on its west side relatively to lower plate rocks to the east. Their work prioritized an area where lower plate rocks likely occurred in proximity to potentially important structures related to The Trend.
During much of 2008, work on the project by Calibre included the re-evaluation of all previous property data, surface soil sampling and diamond drilling. The surface soil sampling program was conducted with the objective of testing coincident pH and geochemical soil anomalies across interpreted splays of the Cortez fault within the Battle Mountain - Eureka mineral belt. The data from this surface work supported the existence of structural zones that can be projected southerly from the Cortez Hills gold deposit that lies on-trend only 10 kilometres to the north. Calibre tested this target type at the northern end of New Dimension's claim block with four diamond drill holes totaling 1,524 metres.
The majority of gold mineralization within the Battle Mountain - Eureka mineral belt is hosted by "lower plate" silty carbonaceous sedimentary rocks. Calibre's drilling encountered varied thicknesses of alluvial cover with three of the four drill holes intersecting bedrock. Hole TR0801 was lost after penetrating 30 metres into bedrock, while holes TR0803 and TR0804 intersected significant intervals of "upper plate" chert and argillite. The drilling did encounter anomalous gold, silver and zinc but not of an appreciable thickness or grade. Moderate to strong silicification with disseminated pyrite was common through long intervals of argillite in each of the drill holes.
The majority of known economic gold mineralization along the Battle Mountain-Eureka Trend is hosted by "lower plate" silty carbonaceous sedimentary rocks in conjunction with important structural zones. The preferred target in the district is, therefore, where both structure and favorable stratigraphy cross paths.