Phoenix Gold Expands Drill Program Next to Newmont Gold Mine
With the U.S, Japan and the U.K having printed over three trillion dollars of fresh money since the 2008 financial crisis – there is a building consensus that – sooner-or-later- gold is going to go sharply up. When that happens history indicates the gold juniors will outperform all other gold investment vehicles.
Phoenix Gold (PXA-TSX.V), a Canadian junior exploration company, has just raised expectations of a major discovery by expanding its drill program on the 100% owned Plumas Property in Nevada’s Battle Mountain District, immediately adjacent to Newmont’s (NEM-NYSE), Phoenix–Fortitude Gold/Copper Mine.
“The geological structures and magnetic signature of the Phoenix-Fortitude mine are closely replicated in a similar magnetic anomaly and structures which we are drill testing on our Plumas Property,” stated Phoenix CEO and President Glenn Laing in an exclusive interview with Financial Press, “We own a 40 acre claim block, which is big enough to host a large gold deposit.”
On August 21, 2014 PXA completed the first tranche of a private placement raising $205,000. Half a million shares were acquired by Kroy Holdings which is indirectly owned and controlled by Glenn Laing, who now owns or controls an aggregate of 23.0% of the issued and outstanding shares of PXA.
Laing is an investment banker and is well known as a savvy international deal-maker and investor so his increased stake in this Nevada based company is worth noting. He is putting his money where his mouth is.
“It took a lot of diligence and connections to secure these claims from title holders who did not want to deal with large mining companies,” confirmed Laing, “First we completed the surface mapping and the prospecting and now we’ve begun to drill. The holes look better with each one that we drilled. The first hole was a shallow hole which orientated us in the system and the next two holes we drilled into what looks like a big mineralized system.”
On August 20, 2014 PXA announced the completion of the third drill hole, and its plans to expand the current drill program by about 33% because of the increased potential size of the mineralized system on the Plumas Property.
The first drill hole (CPL-1) was completed to a depth of 447 feet in the southern most part of the Plumas Property. The second drill hole (CPL-4) stepped up about 200 feet north into the anomaly and was drilled to 588 feet and the third drill hole (CPL-7) stepped up a further 200 feet to the north and was completed to a depth of 912 feet.
Drilling has begun on the fourth hole (CPL-8) which steps up another 500 feet to the north along strike from the previous hole and is right in the “meat” of the magnetic anomaly and geological structures.
“This preliminary drill program is confirming the potential size of the mineralization,” stated Laing, “Evidence is increasing that we have a large mineralized system. I have to use the word ‘mineralized’ because our assays are still pending for these first 3 holes.”
In both Hole CPL-4 and Hole CPL-7, the mineralization encountered in the drill core exceeded the Company’s expectations and the lengths of the individual drill holes were then extended by up to 50%.
PXA’s technical team determined that the mineralized system intersected by the first 3 drill holes exceeds the expected dimensions and that two extra holes be added and the drill footage be increased by an additional 1,200 feet.
“Our technical team is getting excited,” stated Laing, “When we see those levels of metal sulphides in the core, it gives us a strong indication that there is the chance of good gold grades. In this particular Battle Mountain mining district in Nevada there is a strong historical correlation between certain metal sulphides and the gold.”
The history of this mining district suggests that the high grade material can be close to surface. The Phoenix-Fortitude mine is an open pit operation and there were payable gold grades of right from surface outcrops. PXA is drilling into surface outcrops on the Plumas Property.
Newmont’s Phoenix-Fortitude Mine and Phoenix Gold claims lie in the heart of the Battle Mountain–Eureka Trend which features outcropping High-Grade Structural Gold-Silver Deposits and Gold-Copper Porphyry Systems including some very large deposits.
“We are confident that we will grow a 43-101 gold resource on the Phoenix Property which could in turn substantially raise the valuation of our company,” stated Laing.
Historic gold production from Nevada (1835 – 2013) totals about 153 million ounces. As well as Newmont, Goldcorp (GG-NYSE) and Barrick Gold (ABX-NYSE) operate profitable gold mines in the state.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data from mid-August confirmed managed-money traders have added 17,775 long positions in gold and cut 11,823 shorts positions. Speculators making negative bets on gold are at their lowest level since December 2012.
PXA is currently trading at 10 cents with a market cap of $3.3 million