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Projects
Nutmeg Mountain
(NevGold Option to Acquire 100%)
Nutmeg Mountain is considered a material property by NevGold. The disclosure below has been reviewed by Derick Unger, CPG., a non-independent Qualified Person. Mr. Unger is VP Exploration of NevGold.
Summary
NevGold acquired an option on the Nutmeg Mountain Gold Project (Nutmeg, formerly known as Almaden) from GoldMining Inc. (TSX:GOLD, NYSE:GLDG) as announced on June 14, 2022. Nutmeg is located in Western Idaho approximately 80 kilometers north-northwest of Boise and approximately 20 kilometers east of Weiser, Idaho. The area is well-located relative to road, power and water infrastructure (Figure 1).
Nutmeg is a low-sulphidation epithermal gold-silver deposit with similar geology to several other Western USA epithermal deposits and has had over 70,000 meters of historical drilling with 934 core, RC, and rotary holes (see Figure 2).
Nutmeg consists of approximately 1,724 hectares and comprises 210 federal unpatented lode mining claims, 12 patented claims, and 2 leases of private land. The center of the Property is at approximately 116° 42.8’W longitude and 44° 14.3’N latitude with Property extending along the crest and western slopes of Nutmeg Mountain.
Historical drilling at the Project focused on defining the disseminated gold mineralization that starts at surface. This drilling was nearly all vertical and averaged less than 75 meters depth. The potential for high-grade feeder systems at depth remains virtually untested. The last active drill program at the project occurred in 2012.
On July 14, 2020, GoldMining Inc. published an NI 43-101 technical report on Nutmeg with an effective date of April 1, 2020. The report, which is referenced on GoldMining Inc.’s website includes the following mineral resource estimate:
Classification Cutoff Grade Au g /tonne Tonnes Gold Grade g/tonne Ounce Gold Indicated 0.30 43,470,000 0.65 910,000 Inferred 0.30 9,150,000 0.56 160,000 NevGold considers the 2020 NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate as an historical mineral resource. A Qualified Person has not done sufficient work to classify the Historical Resource Estimate as current mineral resource for purposes of Nevgold disclosure.
History
Nutmeg is located in an historic mining area and encompasses a near-surface, low-sulphidation epithermal gold deposit. The area has been explored for gold starting in 1980 with geological mapping, geochemical and geophysical surveying, several metallurgical bulk samples, and 934 drillholes with an aggregate length of over 70,000 meters (see Figure 2).
Geology
The Property contains sandstones of the Payette Formation which host the majority of the mineralization defined by the 2020 historical resource estimate. Additionally, the region was host to long-lived volcanism and hosts basalts of the Columbia River and Weiser basalt groups as well as volcanic tuffs and rhyolites of presumed Miocene age. Silicious sinter deposits cap the mineralized zone. Faulting in the area consists of large scale normal faults that strike northwest and create multiple horsts blocks that are then cross-cut and offset by smaller scale east-northeast normal faults.
Mineralization
Nutmeg is considered a low-sulfidation epithermal deposit and has many similarities to other +1Moz. epithermal deposits in the region including the Midas mine (Nevada), Sleeper mine (Nevada), and Delamar mine (Idaho). Nutmeg is noteworthy in that the mineralization starts at surface and the entire epithermal system is intact, indicating very little gold has been lost to erosion and the potential for discovery of high-grade feeder zones or veins at depth is very high. (Figure 3)
Figure 3. Nutmeg Epithermal Gold Model
Nutmeg Opportunities and Upside
The Nevgold team is excited about the potential upside at Nutmeg for the following reasons:
- Near-surface resource with high-grade feeder zone potential;
- Very low strip ratio: mineralization starts at surface;
- Current resource has consistent grade throughout orebody;
- Higher-grade core of >1.0 g/t Au material with strong continuity;
- Outcropping 1-2 g/t Au mineralization;
- Potential high-grade “starter project”; mine planning opportunity as Nutmeg is advanced into engineering studies;
- Current resource is hosted in near-surface portion of the epithermal system;
- High-grade feeder veins are expected at depth;
- Most of the historical drilling was vertical and would have missed the steeply dipping veins;
- Structures hosting mineralization have >20 km strike length.
Nutmeg Development Plans
NevGold has comprehensive plans for advancing the Project over the next 12 months. These include:
- Compilation and re-analysis of the historic Project exploration database using modern exploration technologies;
- Preparing an updated NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate;
- Development of new drill targets with the objective of expanding the mineral resource laterally and at depth;
- Targeting the high-grade feeder system typically seen in low-sulphidation epithermal deposits; the high-grade feeder system has not been tested by prior operators with average historical drillhole depth to approximately 75 meters, and is an exceptional exploration target;
- Detailed metallurgical program to characterize variances in the deposit metallurgy and determine optimal recovery process;
- Permitting to allow for baseline environmental surveys.
The information developed from the above programs will guide the development of parameters to be used in a near-term engineering study (Preliminary Economic Assessment or PFS) on the Project with targeted completion in 2023 to 2024.
Figure 8. Nutmeg Development Plan
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