Firetail Resources (ASX:FTL) has secured exclusive options to independently acquire two “high-grade” gold projects located in Nevada and South Dakota in the US – Excelsior Springs and Bella Project.
The company has entered into a binding option agreement with Athena Gold Corp (CSE:ATHA) for the exclusive right to acquire 80% of the Excelsior Project.
Firetail has also entered into a binding option agreement with Badlands Resources (TSX:BLDS) for the exclusive right to acquire the Bella Project.
The Excelsior Springs Project is located in Nevada within the Walker Lane Trend, which has produced more than 40 million ounces of gold. Firetail notes Excelsior has a history of ‘high-grade’ production.
The Walker Lane Trend hosts multiple past, current, and pre-development gold mines including the AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU) Silicon/Merlin Project, Kinross Gold’s (NYSE:KGC) Round Mountain Mine and Comstock Project.
The Bella Project is located in South Dakota within the Homestake Gold Belt, which hosts 85 million ounces of gold of historic and current production.
Firetail says extensive small-scale mining has been undertaken across Bella, as evidenced by limited production records and inspection of high-resolution LIDAR topography data across the project showing in excess of 37,000 mining disturbances.
Within the disturbance dataset there are five significant clusters within the Bella project work area, including the Jackpot Trend extending over 2.5km along a mapped BIF unit and “host to an abundance of bonanza gold grades”.
Firetail Managing Director Glenn Poole says the acquisition of such high-calibre gold assets will complement the company’s current portfolio and leverages off its strengths, enabling it to diversify our exposure to the prevailing strong gold and copper prices.
“The Excelsior Springs Project represents an advanced, drill-proven opportunity with gold from surface, and the mineralisation remaining open in all directions with the potential to deliver an expedited resource – reinforced by the presence of further historic mines within the mineral claim that highlight the potential precious metal endowment of the area,” says Poole.
“The Bella Project sits in the shadow of a giant, with the Homestake mine being one of the most notable in modern history. The evidence we see on the ground – of extensive mineralisation-hosting Banded Iron Formation and multiple, significant grades occurring across the wider project area is highly encouraging. The opportunity to follow up on multiple, extensive, historically producing trends that have not been drilled in the modern era in a district known for its size and scale is hugely exciting.”
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Firetail & Unsplash
