Corvus Gold (TSX: KOR; NASDAQ: KOR) has released the results of 10 holes completed at its Mother Lode project in Nevada. The drill program has expanded the Central Intrusive (CIZ), Upper Oxide and North targets, and returned higher than expected grades from the Main zone sulphide unit.
Drill highlights from the Central Intrusive include 29 metres of 2.21 grams gold per tonne starting at 468 metres; 48 metres of 1.23 grams gold per tonne from 406 metres; as well as 55 metres of 1.4 grams gold per tonne starting at 341 metres.
At the CIZ, Corvus has defined (mostly oxide) mineralization down to a depth of 600 metres. Initial cyanide leach tests suggest gold recoveries of over 90%, which indicates good potential for heap leach extraction, the company said. Drilling continues to target the zone to define high-grade shoots, which may be amenable to underground mining.
Notable intercepts from the Main zone include 22 metres of 2.11 grams gold from 341 metres depth; 22 metres of 3.48 grams gold starting at 260 metres; and 56 metres of 1.71 grams gold from 211 metres.
This Central Main zone continues to infill the company's resource model with higher than expected gold grades. The drilling also suggests several cross-cutting breccia zones, also associated with increased gold grades.
Drill intercepts from the Upper Oxide area continue to return mineralized intercepts from zones classified as overburden. Corvus sees potential for this unit to add to its heap leach inventory.
"These new results continue to support the expansion of the Mother Lode deposit and the new CIZ target," Jeffrey Pontius, the company's president and CEO, said in a news release.
Pontius added that while the majority of the drill results from the CIZ will not be incorporated into the company's upcoming PEA for Mother Lode, expected in September, the results will be accounted for in a resource estimate for the property in the New Year.
Corvus first announced the CIZ discovery earlier this year.
The 37-sq.-km Mother Lode project is in Nevada's Greater Bullfrog mining district, host to epithermal gold systems. Corvus also holds the adjoining 91-sq.-km North Bullfrog project.
Total measured and indicated resources at Mother Lode (including both sulphide and oxide material) stand at 53.4 million tonnes grading 0.68 gram gold per tonne for a total of 1.2 million oz., with a further 16.2 million inferred tonnes at 0.46 gram gold, containing 241,000 ounces. These are derived using cutoff grades between 0.06 gram gold and 0.63 gram gold.
Over the last year, Corvus Gold's shares have traded in a range of 99 ? and $4.27, and at press time were changing hands at $4.01 apiece.
The company has about 124 million common shares outstanding for a $497-million market capitalization.