This Junior Mining Company Targeting Unlocking Second Half Of Nevada's Gold Endowment With New Technology

Led by an international team of proven explorers who have already been involved in the discovery of 50 million ounces of gold in Nevada, Nevada Exploration Inc. NGE NVDEF says it is disrupting the state’s mining industry.

The junior exploration company reports leveraging the latest undercover exploration technology to unlock the second half of Nevada’s globally significant gold endowment waiting to be discovered beneath the state’s valley basins.

Along with other companies around the world, Nevada exploration is demonstrating that the most important new medium for undercover exploration is groundwater. "Groundwater flows along the bedrock, dissolves the bedrock and effectively samples it for us," explained James Buskard, President, CEO and Director of Nevada Exploration. “This hydrogeochemistry is being used elsewhere—Australia, Chile, southern Africa—but we are the first group to systematically incorporate this exploration tool to go after Nevada's covered gold endowment." The company states it is advancing a portfolio of new gold exploration projects, primarily focused on three district-scale Carlin-type gold projects.

The three include its flagship South Grass Valley project, where it is currently drilling 50 kilometers south-southwest of the Nevada Gold Mines Cortez complex. Nevada Gold Mines is a joint venture between Barrick Gold Corp. GOLD and Newmont Corp. NEM. 

"Having completed multiple geophysical surveys, multiple geochemistry surveys, and now two rounds of early drilling programs, we've built the geologic model that has confirmed that we've discovered the largest new Carlin-type mineral system that's been found in Nevada in recent history outside of a mine fence," Buskard said.

The company has begun its next round of drilling to test a target, East Golden Gorge, for potential economic grade.The planned drilling program includes 10 holes, each 4,000 feet deep, for a total of around 40,000 feet of drilling.  “By the time we put three to four holes into the project—within the next six months or so —we're going to have a pretty good idea of whether or not our exploration concept is hanging together," explained Buskard.

Bites By Numbers

• Nevada's annual gold production has fallen 50% since the late 1990s (Source: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology).
• A challenge in Nevada is that after exhausting the 45% of the state where the bedrock is exposed, and it is relatively easier to explore, explorers are now having to explore the remaining 55% of Nevada where the bedrock is hidden under its large valleys and difficult to explore.
• Nevada has produced more than 200 million ounces of gold to date, predominantly from areas within the 45% of the state where the bedrock is exposed.
• The industry reportedly agrees there could be an equivalent of more than 200 million ounces of gold to be discovered in the more than half of Nevada is covered, but it needs new exploration tools to explore the next 55% of the state.
• Exploring undercover might be the future of exploration globally, and the world's biggest miner, BHP Group Ltd. BHP, is already spending 85% of its exploration budget looking undercover. The company is letting everyone else fight over the last marginal deposits to be found in the same well-explored exposed areas.
• Some analysts say that discovering Nevada's next 200 million ounces of gold is one of the biggest prizes in the industry and may likely go to the first movers.

“There is no reason not to assume as much gold still exists as has been mined in the past, but prospectors, explorationists and geologists have found the easy gold,” said Richard Goldfarb of the U.S. Geological Survey.

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