May 27 2018 – Laura Stein reports from Newrange Gold Corp‘s Pamlico Project:
I visited Newrange Gold Corp.’s (TSXV: NRG, US-OTC: NRGO) Pamlico project with amazing drill results, some exceeding 10 ounces per ton, a 20 minutes drive from Hawthorne, Nevada with President and CEO Robert Carrington.
On the way he recanted how Pamlico had been controlled by private family interests from 1898 until 2016 when Newrange acquired it. As a result Pamlico has missed most of Nevada’s exploration booms and remains substantially unexplored by modern exploration techniques. He tells how his father and the prior owner had been friends for many years and as a family friend, Robert had already visited the property many times before the family was forced to sell the project due to medically related financial pressures, so most Newrange’s due diligence had already been completed allowing the Company to move quickly to secure this amazing project.
One of Nevada’s old, and highest-grade mining districts, Pamlico was discovered about 1884. Newspaper articles of the time indicate mines in the district were shipping ores assaying an amazing 220 ounces of gold per ton to custom mills. For those not familiar with Nevada and its mining, Nevada is consistently ranked among the top jurisdictions in the world for mining, if Nevada were a country it would be the third largest gold producer in the world and 2 of the world’s 10 largest currently producing gold mines are located in Nevada.
Driving beneath a large electrical line that crosses the property Robert waved over a vista of low rolling desert hills and points out the approximate boundaries of the property, which seem to stretch from horizon to horizon, actually an area about 7 miles long north to south and 3 miles wide east to west covering the entire Pamlico Mining district. Passing the remains of an 1898 vintage stamp mill, I see a mountain beyond that looks like giant prairie dogs have attacked it.
Robert explains this is Pamlico Ridge, a zone nearly 3 miles long, half a mile wide and one of several similar major target zones in the Pamlico District that Newrange will be exploring. He then points to another large canyon with more mine workings and explains this is Gold Box Canyon, one of the other large target zones where they currently have sampling crews working, and where Robert’s father, a Newrange shareholder, recently found visible gold in outcrop.
As the truck bounces tops Pamlico Ridge we are now almost half a mile south of the Merritt decline and looking for miles along a ridge which is everywhere dotted with mine dumps, Robert explains that there are more than 300 such mine workings on the property.
Looking down toward the portal of the Merritt decline (a giant cavernous tunnel fully 12 feet wide, 15 feet high and 600 feet long, dug by the prior owner at a cost more than $3 million US dollars in 2013) he points out the area of Newrange’s highly successful 2017 drill program where they encountered almost unbelievable high grade intercepts some over 10 ounces gold per ton surrounded by what he calls a low grade “halo” averaging more than 0.1 ounces gold per ton over 245 feet.
Robert points out that this is analogous to the style of mineralization found at the nearby 30 million ounce Round Mountain Mine where spectacular high-grade structures are surrounded by a huge “halo” of low grade heap leachable gold mineralization. In comparison most modern mines operate at grades averaging 0.015 to 0.03 ounces gold per ton.
On a technical note, Robert tells me that the Pamlico District is situated at the junction of two major structural trends, the Walker Lane and the Pancake Range Lineaments. Multiple World Class mines and districts are found along these important lineaments including the famed Comstock Lode, Tonopah, Goldfield and the giant Round Mountain Mine operated by Kinross (NYSE: KGC), all of which, like Pamlico, are hosted in volcanic rocks.
Other technical points Robert stresses that are important considerations to future production include:
- Most of the gold is nearly microscopic
- Extremly deep oxidation that extends 600 to 800 feet below the surface
- Lack of silica or other minerals that could result in “refractory” mineralization
- And of course Grade is always king.
From Robert’s excitement as he surveys the project and describes what is happening and the plans going forward, it is obvious he thinks Newrange is in the process of making a tremendous discovery, stating that their objective it so identify a multi-million ounce gold deposit at Pamlico.
Many thanks to Laura Stein for sharing this piece with MiningIR. Laura is an experienced investor and has a regular mailing list packed with interesting junior mining updates and conference reports. To join, contact Liam [at] MiningIR [dot] com and we will gladly forward details.
You can find out more about this exciting project, and others, at www.newrangegold.com
