VANCOUVER, Feb. 23, 2016 /CNW/ - Corvus Gold Inc. ("Corvus"
or the "Company") - (TSX: KOR, OTCQX: CORVF) announces its planned
exploration program for the North Bullfrog project, Nevada.
The initial thrust of the 2016 program will be to follow-up on a
new potential high-grade gold discovery adjacent to the peripheral
boundaries of the proposed pits as outlined in the Preliminary
Economic Assessment (PEA) released last year (NR15-06, June 16, 2015) and to delineate other prospective
new discoveries from the 2015 drill program (Figure 1).
At the NW Sierra Blanca target, a new potential high-grade gold
discovery was identified late in the 2015 drill program. Due
to the proximity to the existing pit outline at Sierra Blanca, a
new discovery at this location could further augment the proposed
oxide mill & heap leach operation as outlined in the PEA.
Other notable new discoveries from the 2015 drill program will be
priority follow-up targets in the 2016 program and include the
Savage & North Jolly Jane targets. Surface exploration
and modeling work is ongoing for these initial targets with
drilling scheduled to begin in mid-April with the initial phase
totalling approximately 5,000 metres.
Jeffrey Pontius, Corvus CEO
states… "The success of Corvus' 2015 exploration and development
work has set the stage for an exciting year of new and expanded
discoveries. With our 2015 PEA and several new exploration
discoveries from across the District, the Company believes it is
increasing the potential of the North Bullfrog property.
Corvus hopes to continue to unlock North Bullfrog's value as we
further define these and potentially make other new discoveries
over the course of the year."
Phase 1 Target Reviews
NW Sierra Blanca
The NW Sierra Blanca target area is over a kilometre long and
located about 700 metres west of the high-grade YellowJacket
deposit, where higher grade mineralization is associated with a
broad zone of stockwork quartz veining. Drilling and
exploration modeling in 2015 has now extended the disseminated
low-grade system several hundred metres to the west with potential
for multiple structural zones hosting high-grade stockwork type
mineralization. This new target is at least as large as the
current Sierra Blanca/YellowJacket deposit area and offers
potential to expand the existing deposit.
The NW Sierra Blanca Zone lies along the western boundary of the
main Sierra Blanca deposit under shallow cover and appears to be
analogous to the high-grade YellowJacket Deposit to the
east. This new zone has returned encouraging intercepts from
shallow depths such as 3.1 metres of 5 g/t gold and 42.0 g/t silver
(Hole NB-15-282) and 20 metres of 1.3 g/t gold and 1.8 g/t silver
(Hole NB-15-269). This new discovery trends to the NNE and
has a direct intrusive association which is encouraging for the
discovery of a large system. To date all of the holes drilled
under the shallow pediment cover to the west of the Sierra Blanca
Deposit have intersected thick zones of low-grade mineralization
with several intervals of +1 g/t gold. We believe these
features indicate potential for a large new deposit adjacent to the
existing pit design (Figure 1).
Rhyolite & YellowJacket Extension
The Rhyolite-YellowJacket extension target is at the north end
of the currently defined YellowJacket deposit. The Rhyolite
extension is a NE trending zone that was tested with three holes in
2015, with two returning intercepts of high-grade stockwork type
mineralization
(10.7m @ 3.5 g/t gold [NB-15-267] and 6.1m @ 1.9 g/t gold
[NB-15-266]). The northern extension of the YellowJacket
deposit was tested with four holes which indicate low-grade
mineralization continues to the north another 100 metres but that
the vein system is likely displaced to the west into the "Swale"
target area which will be tested in the next round of exploration.
It appears that the YellowJacket and the NW Sierra
Blanca structural zones are converging in the Swale target
area.
Savage
The Savage target is located about one kilometre south of the
YellowJacket deposit and has returned broad zones of disseminated
low-grade mineralization with a deeper zone of higher grade
intrusive related mineralization (NB-15-273 with 3.1m @ 2.05 g/t
gold, 178 g/t silver and up to 0.2% copper). This deeper
mineralization could be the beginning of a new large deposit type
that maybe associated with a major structural zone underlying the
entire Sierra Blanca/YellowJacket deposit area. This
structural zone could be represented at surface as the West Jolly
Jane Fault zone and could be a very important District scale
mineralizing fluid pathway. The Savage and North Jolly Jane
exploration projects will be linked to make sure we have a clear
understanding of the intrusive and structural relationship between
these large scale target environments and their
potential.
Jolly Jane
North
The Jolly Jane North target is centered along the West Jolly
Jane Fault which hosts broad zones of deeply oxidized, disseminated
gold mineralization. This structural zone dips shallowly to
the west and could be similar to the main ore controlling fault in
the historic Bullfrog deposit located 10 kilometres to the
south. The West Jolly Jane Fault projects underneath the main
Sierra Blanca/YellowJacket deposit and could host not only Bullfrog
type high-grade vein mineralization but mineralized intrusives,
significantly expanding its potential. Assuming this feature
is going through and its dip is constant it should project under
the deposits at a depth of 350 to 500 metres below the
surface. It is possible that the deep hole drilled in the
Savage target intercepted the top of this structural zone or a
splay off of it. Further surface exploration and follow-up
drilling will confirm the potential of this zone and its
relationship to the Savage and other potential targets below the
current deposits which have never been tested.
Additional Phase II Targets - Cat Hill and other Eastern
Zone Potential
Phase II drilling will focus on following-up success from the
phase 1 program and testing of targets in the new Eastern area that
have returned positive results described below. This program
will be initiated in the fall following the return and analysis of
the phase I results.
Results from the Cat Hill target have confirmed the presence of
a large oxide gold system which is along the structural margin of a
large block of basement rocks. This geologic setting is
similar to that in the Sierra Blanca/YellowJacket deposit and when
linked to other discoveries at Connection, Vinegaroon and Alunite
Hill could be outlining a system with similar size potential.
These large areas of uplifted blocks of basement rocks have created
major structural movement along their margins which created large
fault zones that form excellent pathways for mineralizing fluids
with potential to form the large disseminated deposits as well as
the fault controlled high-grade deposits. The drill
discoveries in this new area of large disseminated gold
mineralization with early indicators of high-grade potential has
now outlined a highly perspective area for the discovery of another
Sierra Blanca/YellowJacket deposit under a thin veneer of
alteration cover.
About the North Bullfrog Project, Nevada
Corvus controls 100% of its North Bullfrog Project, which covers
approximately 72 km² in southern Nevada. The property package is made up
of a number of private mineral leases of patented federal mining
claims and 865 federal unpatented mining claims. The project
has excellent infrastructure, being adjacent to a major highway and
power corridor as well as a large water right.
The North Bullfrog project includes numerous prospective gold
targets at various stages of exploration with four having NI 43-101
mineral resources (Sierra Blanca, Jolly Jane, Mayflower and
YellowJacket). The project contains a measured mineral
resource of 3.86 Mt at an average grade of 2.55 g/t gold and 19.70
g/t silver, containing 316.5k ounces of gold and 2,445k ounces of
silver, an indicated mineral resource of 1.81 Mt at an average
grade of 1.53 g/t gold, and 10.20 g/t silver, containing 89.1k
ounces of gold and 593.6k ounces of silver and an inferred resource
of 1.48 Mt at an average grade of 0.83 g/t gold and 4.26 g/t
silver, containing 39.5k ounces of gold and 202.7k ounces of silver
for oxide mill processing. The mineral resource for the mill
process was defined by WhittleTM optimization using all
cost and recovery data and a breakeven cut-off grade of 0.52 g/t
gold. In addition, the project contains a measured mineral resource
of 0.3 Mt at an average grade of 0.25 g/t gold and 2.76 g/t
silver, containing 2.4k ounces of gold and 26.6k ounces of silver,
an indicated mineral resource of 22.86 Mt at an average grade of
0.30 g/t gold and 0.43 g/t silver, containing 220.5k ounces of gold
and 316.1k ounces of silver and an inferred mineral resource of
176.3 Mt at an average grade of 0.19 g/t gold and 0.67 g/t silver,
containing 1,077.4k ounces of gold and 3,799.2k ounces of silver
for oxide, heap leach processing. The mineral resource for heap
leach processing was defined by WhittleTM optimization
using all cost and recovery data and a breakeven cut-off grade of
0.15 g/t.
Qualified Person and Quality Control/Quality
Assurance
Jeffrey A. Pontius (CPG 11044), a
qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has
supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical
information that forms the basis for this news release and has
approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Pontius is not
independent of Corvus, as he is the CEO & President and holds
common shares and incentive stock options.
Carl E. Brechtel, (Nevada PE
008744 and Registered Member 353000 of SME), a qualified person as
defined by National Instrument 43-101, has coordinated execution of
the work outlined in this news release and has approved the
disclosure herein. Mr. Brechtel is not independent of Corvus, as he
is the COO and holds common shares and incentive stock options.
The work program at North Bullfrog was designed and supervised
by Mark Reischman, Corvus Gold's
Nevada Exploration Manager, who is responsible for all aspects of
the work, including the quality control/quality assurance
program. On-site personnel at the project log and track all
samples prior to sealing and shipping. Quality control is
monitored by the insertion of blind certified standard reference
materials and blanks into each sample shipment. All resource
sample shipments are sealed and shipped to ALS Chemex in
Reno, Nevada, for preparation and
then on to ALS Chemex in Reno,
Nevada, or Vancouver, B.C.,
for assaying. ALS Chemex's quality system complies with the
requirements for the International Standards ISO 9001:2000 and ISO
17025:1999. Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored
by the analysis of reagent blanks, reference material and replicate
samples. Finally, representative blind duplicate samples are
forwarded to ALS Chemex and an ISO compliant third party laboratory
for additional quality control.
For additional information on the North Bullfrog project,
including information relating to exploration, data verification
and the mineral resource estimates, see "Technical Report and
Preliminary Economic Assessment for Combined Mill and Heap Leach
Processing at the North Bullfrog Project, Bullfrog Mining District,
NYE County, Nevada" dated
June 16, 2015, which is available
under Corvus Gold's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.
About Corvus Gold Inc.
Corvus Gold Inc. is a North American gold exploration and
development company, focused on its near-term gold-silver mining
project at North Bullfrog, Nevada. In addition the Company
controls a number of other North American exploration properties
representing a spectrum of gold, silver and copper projects.
Corvus is committed to building shareholder value through new
discoveries and the expansion of those discoveries to maximize
share price leverage in a recovering gold and silver market.
On behalf of
Corvus Gold Inc.
(signed) Jeffrey A.
Pontius
Jeffrey A.
Pontius,
Chief Executive Officer
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements and
forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking
statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and US
securities legislation. All statements, other than statements
of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation,
statements regarding the potential for new deposits and expected
increases in a systems potential; anticipated content, commencement
and cost of exploration programs, anticipated exploration program
results, the discovery and delineation of mineral
deposits/resources/reserves, the potential to develop multiple
YellowJacket style high-grade zones, the Company's belief that the
parameters used in the WhittleTM pit optimization
process are realistic and reasonable, the potential to discover
additional high grade veins or additional deposits, the potential
to expand the existing estimated resource at the North Bullfrog
project, the potential for any mining or production at North
Bullfrog, the economics presented in the PEA, the potential for the
Company to secure or receive any royalties in the future, business
and financing plans and business trends, are forward-looking
statements. Information concerning mineral resource estimates
may be deemed to be forward-looking statements in that it reflects
a prediction of the mineralization that would be encountered if a
mineral deposit were developed and mined. Although the
Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give
no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.
Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such
as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and
similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to
future events. The Company cautions investors that any
forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of
future results or performance, and that actual results may differ
materially from those in forward looking statements as a result of
various factors, including, but not limited to, variations in the
nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be
located, variations in the market price of any mineral
products the Company may produce or plan to produce, the Company's
inability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or
authorizations required for its activities, the Company's inability
to produce minerals from its properties successfully or profitably,
to continue its projected growth, to raise the necessary capital or
to be fully able to implement its business strategies, and other
risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Company's 2013 Annual
Information Form and latest interim Management Discussion and
Analysis filed with certain securities commissions in Canada and the Company's most recent filings
with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the
"SEC"). All of the Company's Canadian public disclosure
filings in Canada may be accessed
via www.sedar.com and filings with the SEC may be
accessed via www.sec.gov and readers are urged to
review these materials, including the technical reports filed with
respect to the Company's mineral properties.
Cautionary Note Regarding References to Resources and
Reserves
National Instrument 43 101 - Standards of Disclosure for
Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") is a rule developed by the Canadian
Securities Administrators which establishes standards for all
public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical
information concerning mineral projects. Unless otherwise
indicated, all resource estimates contained in or incorporated by
reference in this press release have been prepared in accordance
with NI 43-101 and the guidelines set out in the Canadian Institute
of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (the "CIM") Standards on
Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the CIM Council
on November 14, 2004 (the "CIM
Standards") as they may be amended from time to time by the
CIM.
United States investors are
cautioned that the requirements and terminology of NI 43-101 and
the CIM Standards differ significantly from the requirements and
terminology of the SEC set forth in the SEC's Industry Guide 7
("SEC Industry Guide 7"). Accordingly, the Company's
disclosures regarding mineralization may not be comparable to
similar information disclosed by companies subject to SEC Industry
Guide 7. Without limiting the foregoing, while the terms
"mineral resources", "inferred mineral resources", "indicated
mineral resources" and "measured mineral resources" are recognized
and required by NI 43-101 and the CIM Standards, they are not
recognized by the SEC and are not permitted to be used in documents
filed with the SEC by companies subject to SEC Industry Guide
7. Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not
have demonstrated economic viability, and US investors are
cautioned not to assume that all or any part of a mineral resource
will ever be converted into reserves. Further, inferred
resources have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence
and as to whether they can be mined legally or economically.
It cannot be assumed that all or any part of the inferred resources
will ever be upgraded to a higher resource category. Under
Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not
form the basis of a feasibility study or prefeasibility study,
except in rare cases. The SEC normally only permits issuers
to report mineralization that does not constitute SEC Industry
Guide 7 compliant "reserves" as in-place tonnage and grade without
reference to unit amounts. The term "contained ounces" is not
permitted under the rules of SEC Industry Guide 7. In
addition, the NI 43-101 and CIM Standards definition of a "reserve"
differs from the definition in SEC Industry Guide 7. In SEC
Industry Guide 7, a mineral reserve is defined as a part of a
mineral deposit which could be economically and legally extracted
or produced at the time the mineral reserve determination is made,
and a "final" or "bankable" feasibility study is required to report
reserves, the three-year historical price is used in any reserve or
cash flow analysis of designated reserves and the primary
environmental analysis or report must be filed with the appropriate
governmental authority. U.S. investors are urged to consider
closely the disclosure in our latest reports and registration
statements filed with the SEC. You can review and obtain copies of
these filings at http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml. U.S. Investors are
cautioned not to assume that any defined resource will ever be
converted into SEC Industry Guide 7 compliant reserves.
This press release is not, and is not to be construed in any
way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States.
SOURCE Corvus Gold Inc.