Carlin TrendCarlin Trend
The Carlin Trend - A Trend Setter
The Carlin Trend in north central Nevada is the richest gold real estate in the western hemisphere. The largest gold mining company in the world, Newmont Mining, has its flagship operation on the Carlin Trend.
The trend's namesake town of Carlin is located 28 miles south west of Elko Nevada. Elko is located on Interstate 80 between Reno, Nevada and Salt Lake City, Utah. Elko is a major mining resource town and as such is home base to several Carlin Trend resource companies. Grandview Gold has its Nevada headquarters in Elko.
The story of Carlin Trend gold is a remarkable one, and the very fact that gold was ever discovered in the region is as unlikely as the huge tonnage that the district delivers today. Carlin style gold is sub-microscopic -- not visible to the naked eye. In the 1960s' Dr. Ralph Roberts, considered by many to be the father of the Carlin Trend, conceived of and propagated the concept of sub-microscopic gold deposits in north central Nevada. His ground-breaking research and field work were catalysts for the more than 75 million ounces of gold (USD $51 billion at today's prices) produced on the Carlin Trend to date and the more than 100 million (USD$675 million) in gold reserves still in the ground.
Up until the late mid-century gold prospectors and explorers had been 'looking' for gold but the gold particles were so small that conventional exploration tools and techniques could not reveal them. In 1961, Newmont geologists adopted Dr. Roberts' theory that microscopic gold might exist in Nevada and began exploring favourable, high desert terrain. Just two years later, a three million ounce deposit was found at Rain and what is now known as the Carlin Trend developed its first large-scale open pit mine. Currently, the Rain District hosts about five million ounces of gold worth $3.4 billion dollars at today's prices.
Regional Activity
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Approximately 30 years ago, Barrick bought their first Carlin Trend interest from Newmont. At that time Newmont was the only major player on the Carlin Trend. Barrick's acquired property, Goldstrike, had a 1.5 million ounce resource on it at the time, associated with some intrusives and some sediment surrounding the intrusives. The property had a history of limited gold production, but its perceived value lay in its un-tapped potential. Barrick made the decision to drill deep into the productive host units (as Newmont had earlier, at Rain) and developed the Goldstrike and Meikle deposits. Today, the Goldstrike project hosts approximately 50 million ounces of gold, with more than 30 million ounces of historic production and almost 20 million ounces in proven and probable reserves. Grandview's Pony Creek/Elliott Dome property has a 1.426 million ounce gold inferred resource associated with some intrusives and sediment surrounding the intrusives.
From those early days on the Carlin Trend, gold production has grown exponentially to where it is today -- the second richest gold district in the world, second only to Witwatersrand, South Africa. The recognized trend boundary has grown to encompass an area approximately two miles wide and 20 miles long which disects north central nevada laterally as it migrates south-east.
At the far south end of the trend, Barrick's Bald Mountain Mine hosts approximately 4.5 million ounces gold worth USD $31 billion. Approximately 16 miles north of Bald Mountain, on the same Pinyon Range as the Rain Deposit, Grandview Gold Inc commands 28 square-miles of Carlin Trend real estate -- the largest consolidated land position on the prolific Carlin Trend not already owned by a major.
Major players on the trend are still Newmont and Barrick, but there are others exploring and producing in the area. See Carlin Trend Regional Activity for resource companies on the trend as well as their historic output and proven and probable reserves.
Today in north central Nevada the Carlin Trend has another wealthy neighbour -- the Battle Mountain-Eureka-Cortez Trend to the west. Had it not been for the foresight and imagination of Dr. Roberts and pioneers like Newmont and Barrick, juniors like Grandview Gold would not have the opportunity to explore for gold in the richest gold neighbourhood in North America, among the largest gold companies in the world.
Carlin Systems
Among prospectors and geologists, Carlin type (CT) gold systems are considered the holy grail of gold systems. Of the more than 5,000 gold systems and approximately 30,000 gold occurrences in the western United States, a mere handful, about one in 300 become economic. Reduced cal-calkalin systems like those found in the Carlin Trend and in Ontario's Red Lake Gold District have by comparison, an extraordinarily high likelyhood of becoming economic deposits - about four in ten, or 40% versus just one-third of one percent. These numbers are impressive to say the least, and in geological circles, they are extraordinary. This comparison is made not to imply or suggest potential outcomes at Pony Creek or any other Carlin Trend property, rather to illustrate the importance of reducing risk at the outset by exploring for gold in recognized gold districts, most particularly on gold trends.
Regional Activity
There are two types of Carlin systems; the shallow systems where lower grade gold occurs as dissseminations in carbonaceous, limey siltstones and altered limestone and is spread out over a cloud of mineralization at depths of 500-700 feet. These shallow systems are developed as open pit mines with lower cost production. Open pit mines remain the major source of Carlin Trend ore.
Deeper, higher-grade sulfide gold mineralization commonly occur at depths below 1,000 feet. These deeper systems are developed as underground mines and involve higher cost production. Rain and Goldstrike began as open pit mines and developed to include underground mines.
Grandview's 28 square-mile Pony Creek/Elliott Dome property is being explored for both open pit and underground mining potential over three primary target areas - Pony Creek West, Red Rock and Pony Creek South, and several proximal areas. A comprehensive drilling program is underway. Check the Company News pages of this website for recent news or visit Pony Creek Drilling Results for more information.