LH Claim Drilling News Can you guess who first noticed and panned coarse gold in Limerick Basin? Those hours and years of panning dredge concentrates served us well. Not bad for the 3rd day on the job, eh? Hope to be ready for Phase II drilling. Even at 9 degrees F, with 2 inches of ice in my panning tub, this was adventure and excitement. The folks I work with ARE top-notch professionals, IMO.
Not Investment Advice DYODD I am a shareholder and a consulting geologist for Rye Patch Gold.
Partial NR "VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire -05/29/12)- Rye Patch Gold Corp. (RPM.V)(RPMGF.PK)(5TN.F) (the "Company") announces partial assay results from the Rochester drilling project on the LH Claims. Rye Patch Gold US Inc., the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, has completed 45 reverse circulation drillholes. This news release reports gold and silver assay results for the first thirty-three drillholes totaling 7,024 metres.
To date, Boart Longyear and National Drilling have completed forty-five drillholes on the LH Claims. At this time, final assay results are available for 33 drillholes totaling 7,024 metres. This phase-1 drill program started in late January and will finish in mid-June. Once all assays have been received, compiled and interpreted, a second phase of drilling will be planned, permitted, and implemented.
Drilling at the Rochester project began on the north end of the LH claims in Limerick Basin, where three separate targets were tested. The targets were developed from a combination of surface sampling and mapping and projected trends from the Rochester Mine to the south and Barrick's Spring Valley project to the north. Drilling in the Limerick Basin target - LBR-001 to LBR-019 - shows similar geology to the nearby (four kilometres northeast) Spring Valley gold deposit. Several drillholes encountered altered feldspar porphyry.
Panning of selective samples was initially instituted because of the proximity to the Spring Valley deposit and its known coarse gold, but soon became a continuous regimen when visible gold was encountered in the second drillhole in the area. Larger samples were then collected, and metallic-screen assays were requested on two drillholes (LBR-006 and LBR-016) to test the validity of the identification. A vertical drillhole (LBR-019) was completed in the area of the drillholes containing the coarse gold in an attempt to test for additional coarse gold and intersect altered feldspar porphyry at depth. Coarse gold was panned in LBR-019 from 366 metres to 457 metres with the strongest concentration occurring in the bottom 12 metres (445 to 457 metres). Metallic-screen assays are pending at this time.
LBR-003 drilled 12.2 metres grading 36 g/t Ageq starting at 116 metres down hole including a three-metre zone grading 133 g/t Ageq. The gold and silver was within an oxidized, altered felsic volcanic that may be the down-dip extension of the South Porphyry structural zone mapped at the surface.
The Northwest Rochester target, NWR-020 to NWR-026, tested projections of gold and silver zones extending from the Rochester mine as well as structures and associated alteration identified in mapping and sampling on the LH claims. Drilling returned moderate grades ranging between 5 g/t Ageq to 29.5 g/t Ageq over 1.5 metres to 10.7 metres. A second round of drilling will focus on Sunflower Hill where surface sampling returned high-grade gold and silver values from an area measuring 500 metres by 200 metres as reported on February 22, 2012. The rock-chip samples returned gold values ranging from 0.243 g/t gold to 87.39 g/t gold (with an average of 11.65 g/t gold) and silver assays from 8.5 g/t Ag to 2,990 g/t Ag. The Sunflower Hill area lies immediately adjacent and southwest of the Rochester pit. The gold and silver values are associated with northeast trending, strongly altered and quartz-veined felsic volcanics. The target is the extension of the Rochester mine mineralization.
RMR-027 through RMR-032 were drilled in the Mystic target north of the Packard mine. Six drillholes (RMR-027, RMR-028, RMR-029, RMR-030, RMR-031, RMR-032) returned significant gold and silver assays from zones greater than 40 metres in length - true thickness is unknown at this time. The Mystic area consists of an array of northeast trending veins and breccia sets located north of the Packard mine. Rye Patch Gold US Inc. completed a rock-chip sampling and detailed structural mapping program over the target. The target has significant upside potential. Based on mapping, sampling and drilling, the Mystic and Sunflower zones may connect along a northeast structural zone giving the target an overall 3-kilometre length.
Drilling in the Packard mine area is focused on extensions of the Packard ore body to the north, south and west. The gold and silver in the Nevada Packard area is associated with quartz stockwork and pervasive silicification. Oxidation has been drilled to a depth of 200 metres. One drillhole, RMR-033, has final assay results, and RMR-034 to RMR-045 are pending at this time. RMR-033 returned 86.9 metres grading 11.65 g/t Ageq. This is a significant intercept that will be followed up. Drilling in the Packard area is continuing.
"The Company is encouraged with the drill results to date. The program covered a significant portion of the LH Claims and shows the upside potential of the LH Claim group outside of the mine operation. Based on the results to date, a second phase drill program is warranted," stated William C. Howald, President and CEO of Rye Patch Gold Corp.
For the phase-one Rochester drilling program, a cutoff grade of 5 g/t Ageq was used. The silver equivalent was calculated using the silver grade plus the gold grade times fifty. Table 1 summarizes the assay results for LBR-001 to LBR-019, NWR-020 to NWR-026, RMR-027 to RMR-033.
Rye Patch Gold US Inc. controls over 100 square kilometres (40 sq. miles) along the Oreana trend. The Rochester Property - LH Claims - covers 30.3 square kilometres (7,493.2 acres), and mineral title is disputed by Coeur Rochester Inc. The Sixth District Court of Nevada has enjoined Rye Patch Gold US Inc., for safety reasons, from conducting exploration activities on approximately 7.4 square kilometres (1,839.3 acres) covering the active open pit, mine dumps and leach pads in the immediate Rochester Mine area. It is the position of Rye Patch Gold US Inc. that all the LH claims are valid senior unpatented mining claims, including those claims within the court-ordered enjoined area. Geologic assessment and drilling confirm discoveries on the LH claims and the land area which covers up to 20% of Rochester's published proven and probable silver and gold reserve along with a significant portion of the published silver and gold resource based on Coeur's December 5, 2011, news release."