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Overview
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.
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