A strong gold market can make it feel like promising projects with strong findings and historic resources are appearing out of nowhere.
For sports fans, it can feel similar to future All-Stars slipping unnoticed through a draft, only to wow fans and general managers years down the line. But just as smart general managers have found success by accurately scout talent that others missed, mining experts keep their eyes open for their own unnoticed “All-Stars.”
In reality, these projects have always been lying in wait. The reasons they’re overlooked by owners are as varied as the projects themselves, with weak commodity prices, legal troubles, or market uncertainty as just a handful of common causes. Other times, it’s simply a case of owners seeing stronger business prospects or likelihood of success on one venture and putting others on the back-burner, even if they might be a sure-thing in most markets.
These prospects exist even in the most well-known mining jurisdictions. Despite the expectation that modern mining operations would put a spotlight on nearby resources, more often than not, nearby prospects are eclipsed by the shadow of their larger neighbours.
So when the team at
Golden Lake Exploration Inc. (
CSE:GLM,
Forum) took notice of an untouched gold prospect in one of the most active mining districts in the world, they saw that it was an opportunity that needed to be explored. That prospect was the Jewel Ridge Property, located on the Battle Mountain-Eureka gold trend of Nevada, a state responsible for more than 75% of US gold production and 5% of global gold production.
(Image via Golden Lake Exploration)
Just by being located on the Battle Mountain-Eureka gold trend, Jewel Ridge was already promising. The trend is second to only the nearby Carlin trend in Nevada’s gold production, with major deposits located all the way across.
But Golden Lake saw that Jewel Ridge had much more than location on its side. The prospect had impressive historical drill intercepts and likely hosted Carlin-type gold deposits, the very same type of deposit present in many of the largest mines in Nevada. In a strengthening gold market, it had all the markings of an “All Star” deposit waiting to be discovered.
Before Golden Lake
acquired the Jewel Ridge property in Nov. 2019, the project had been sitting quiet. Previous ownership had focused on other non-mining ventures when the gold market had turned downwards earlier in the decade, and at the time it was likely the correct call. As the market has picked up and strengthened over the last year, however, it quickly became clear that the property has to right characteristics to fit in and prosper.
Stockhouse Editorial recently spoke with the management at Golden Lake, including CEO Michael B. England, Chairman Vic Bradley, and Chief Geologist Robert Weicker, about the Company bringing back Jewel Ridge to the current market. They saw that the project would do well with the right exploration focus, and the more they have learned about it, the more Golden Lake’s management is impressed.
“We’ve known of Jewel Ridge for a long time, probably 30 years or so, and we knew the district in Nevada well as an old mining district. But the biggest factor for the 2010’s was that the company that had it wasn’t focused on exploration. They just haven’t been in the game. But when we acquired the property, one of the attractions was a good database of drill holes, and magnetic survey reference from the late 1980’s, and even new historical sampling in places that we had no records of in our database. There’s a lot there, and it’s better than average grade for Nevada.”
(Image via Golden Lake Exploration)
Just as All-Stars often need coaches and managers to recognize their talent and elevate them in sports, Golden Lake has assembled a high quality team that was able to pinpoint Jewel Ridge and has the ability to elevate it the property in the current market. CEO England has been directly responsible in for raising more than $60 million for mineral exploration and acquisitions in public markets, and Chairman Bradley’s extensive mining history includes chairing
Osisko Mining Corp. (
TSX:OSK) from Nov. 2006 up to its $4.1 billion sale to
Yamana Gold (
TSX:YRI) and
Agnico Eagle (
TSX:AEM) in June 2014.
And the Company’s mining expertise is even more extensive across Canada, the US, and Nevada specifically. Chief Geologist Weicker previously held the same role at the Williams Mine for
Lac Minerals Ltd., at the time the largest gold mine in Canada, and also spent time with
Hecla Mining Co. (
NYSE:HL) working on the exploration, permitting, and underground development of the Rosebud gold deposit in Nevada. Adding to his experience is Director Peter Mah, a 30-year mining engineer veteran and currently the COO of
McEwen Mining Inc. (
TSX:MUX) and Advisor Richard Reid, a Nevada-focused senior geologist who previously served as the Nevada District Exploration Manager, Exploration Business Development Manager, and Chief Geologist for North America of the world’s largest gold producer,
Newmont Corp. (
TSX:NGT).
Bringing that experience to the approximately 728 hectare Jewel Ridge Project is allowing the Company to ramp up quickly. The property consists of 96 unpatented lode mining claims and 30 patented claims, has had multiple historic producers of gold and silver, and more than 360 RC holes directed at Carlin-type gold mineralization. At one of the priority targets, the South Eureka Tunnel area,
50 of 82 historical drills hit mineralization with averages of 17.1 metres at a grade of 1.16 g/t Au, and 15.1 metres at a grade of 1.98 g/t Au using a cut-off of 0.9 g/t Au.
(Image via Golden Lake Exploration)
Combining the most promising results from South Eureka with those from other drilling targets on the property, Jewel Ridge has seen a weighted average intercept of 21.1 meters at 2.98 g/t Au on just its top 15 drill intercepts. With Carlin-type deposits in Nevada profitable thrgouh heap leach operations even at low grades, that puts the mineralization in the premium grade of Carlin-type deposits above 1.50 g/t Au which is attractive for all majors in the area.
Though with Jewel Ridge being in an established mining district with historical mines located on sight, new targets are still being discovered. On May 14, Golden Lake announced the
identification of a new target after acquiring additional third-party geochemical sampling that covered portions of the property. The database of 710 samples put the spotlight on an area that hadn’t seen surface samples or drilling previously, the Radio Tower Target, with values up to 6.03 g/t Au, 119.5 g/t Ag, and 0.31% Cu.
In their interview with Stockhouse Editorial, the Golden Lake team reiterated that the next step for Jewel Ridge is a drilling program on those priority targets. Originally they were looking to drill in early 2020, but the difficulties of COVID-19 closing borders and making it difficult to mobilize a team pushed back the timetable. However, with everything from sampling and history in their favor and the gold market strengthening around them, the Company is now looking to get started with a proposed 5000-foot RC drilling program.
(Image via Golden Lake Exploration)
While Jewel Ridge is impressive already, the Golden Lake team knows there is plenty of room to grow. The first drilling program will focus on patented lands first, but they plan to permit and explore the whole property over time. And with other “All-Star” opportunities in Nevada in sight, getting Jewel Ridge going will open up other opportunities in the prolific mining state.
Because when you a have a team that knows what they’re doing, they bring a formula for success with them. When it comes to Golden Lake Exploration and the Jewel Ridge Property in Nevada, that formula has already been successful in neighbouring projects and is laid out for everyone to see. Combine historic production and drilling data with high-grade Carlin-type gold mineralization, and you have a recipe for success in
any gold market. In the second most prolific gold trend in the best gold mining district in the US? It’s a slam dunk.
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.