JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed Columbus Gold announced on Monday that the maiden resource for the company’s 100%-owned Eastside gold-silver project, in Nevada, in the US, is estimated to be a total of 721 000 oz of gold equivalent.
At a cutoff grade of 0.15 g/t gold, coupled with a gold price of $1 300/oz, the company calculates that Eastside contains pit-constrained inferred resources of 35.78-million tonnes grading 0.63 g/t gold equivalent.
Columbus converted silver to gold equivalent at a ratio of 60:1. Average gold and silver grades are 0.57 g/t and 3.5 g/t respectively.
The company notes that its Eastside project has “outstanding” infrastructure for mining and processing, and that, following metallurgical testing, there are indications that gold and silver at Eastside are amenable to cyanide leaching.
“Considering that only about 1 km2 of the large 58 km2 property has been drilled so far, and only 136 holes drilled, a maiden resource of 721 000 oz constrained in a pit is an excellent start," commented Columbus Gold CEO Robert Giustra.
He added that the volume of drilled gold and silver mineralisation at Eastside is known to be much larger than what is contained within the $1 300 pit shell, with only about 50% of the mineralised material identified from the drilling being included into the current resource estimate.
“The deposit also remains open at depth, to the south and to the west, and recent work has generated an abundance of additional targets," he added.