The state of Nevada is undoubtedly a gold mine when it comes to precious metals exploration and production — and savvy investors know that the state is not only the largest producer of gold in the state but also ranks fourth in the world behind the likes of China, Australia and Russia.
Operating in Nevada is
Ridgeline Minerals Corp. (TSX-V: RDG, OTCQB: RDGMF, Forum), which is a Vancouver-based discovery-focused gold and silver exploration company. Ridgeline Minerals holds 100 percent interest in four core land positions in Nevada on the Carlin and Battle Mountain regions, including Eureka Trends, Bell Creek, Swift and Selena.
Notably, the Swift Project is a Carlin-type gold exploration project that sits in the Lander County in Nevada along the prolific Cortez district of the Battle Mountain-Eureka Trend.
Drilling set to begin at Swift Gold Project
In November 2021,
the company announced that drilling is set to begin at the Swift Gold Project, which will be carried out by Nevada Gold Mines LLC through a transaction Ridgeline Minerals and Nevada Gold Mines made together. Nevada Gold Mines is a joint venture between Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Corp.
In a press release, the company said that the first drill hole will target mineralized fault intersections within lower-plate carbonate host rocks of the Wenban and Roberts Mountains formations.
Slated to begin in Q4 2021, it is expected that assay results will be ready by the first quarter of next year, with the target area exhibiting scale gold-coincident Carlin-type pathfinder surface soil anomalies and rock chip samples that grade up to 9.82 grams per ton (g/t) gold.
Through Ridgeline’s exploration earn-in agreement with Nevada Gold Mines, Nevada Gold Mines will incur a minimum of US$20 million in work expenditures over a five-year term in order to earn a 60 percent interest in the project. Nevada Gold Mines has an option to increase its interest to 75 percent.
"In line with our strategy to advance exploration projects to create shareholder value, we are pleased to announce that our partner, Nevada Gold Mines, has commenced drilling at the Swift gold project,” Chad Peters, president and CEO of Ridgeline Minerals, said in a release. “NGM has been working closely with Ridgeline to target this initial drill hole following the recent execution of the Earn-In Agreement. As a result, Ridgeline's shareholders will now have three of our four projects drill tested in 2021."
Transaction with Nevada Gold Mines
In September, Ridgeline announced it had entered into a transaction with Nevada Gold Mines in relation to the Swift Gold Project.
Through the qualifying work expenditures and option to earn up to a 60 percent interest in Swift — with additional options of increasing its interest to 75 percent — Nevada Gold Mines will immediately take over the project’s operatorship.
“Our singular focus as a company is to create value per share through discovery and we are delighted to partner with the Nevada Gold Mines team as they apply their proven track record of discovery to the Swift gold project,” Peters said in September. “Through this partnership, Ridgeline will significantly reduce the exploration risk inherent with deep drilling in Nevada, while retaining meaningful upside at Swift across all levels of project development moving forward.”
The Swift Gold Project
The company initially began a Phase 1 drill program in 2020, which intersected altered and locally mineralized Wenban formation host rocks which hadn’t been identified at the Swift project before by previous operators.
Previous explorers of the project include Placer Dome, Phelps Dodge, Minterra and Barrick, with geochemistry work done ranging from soil sampling grid and rock chips to trench sampling.
Undoubtedly, this was significant for the company because the Wenban formation is the primary gold host for all >5 million ounces of gold deposits across the Cortez District.
Meanwhile historic drilling at the project tested the footwall of the DDF zone, which sits roughly 1.5 kilometres east of MCK-99-5A and intersected Lower Plate host rocks of the Wenban, Roberts Mountain and Hanson Creek formations starting at 400 metres, with intercepts of:
- 0.2 m grading 0.22 g/t gold and 860 g/t silver starting at 872.5m
- 0.9 m grading 0.55 g/t gold and 6.6 g/t silver starting at 926.5 m
The investment corner
The Swift Gold Project will be an interesting one to watch for — particularly as it relates to the transaction agreement with Nevada Gold Mines and what it will bring to the table for Ridgeline Minerals’ investors.
With that in mind, however, Ridgeline is backed by an experienced leadership team with a proven track record of success and management with strong geological backgrounds, making the company an exciting opportunity that knows how to make discoveries and provide massive upside to its investors.
For more information,
please visit ridgelineminerals.com.
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.