By Harry Dacres-Dixon
- Treasure hunting in Nevada
- Walker Lane: The treasure chest you’ve been looking for
- Tertiary Minerals kick start their hunt for gold
- Gold in Walker Lane not drying up anytime soon
Treasure hunting in Nevada
Ahoy, me hearties! If you’re planning on going hunting for hidden treasures anytime soon, Nevada might be a good place to start. The state ranked as the top jurisdiction in the world for investment according to the Fraser Institute Investment Attractiveness Index. An outcome of both it’s geological attractiveness and the effects of government policy on attitudes toward exploration investment.
It’s no surprise either. The area has world class infrastructure and has been a prolific producer of key metals including copper, cobalt, lithium silver and gold. When it comes to gold, Nevada is up there with the best of them. In fact, if Nevada were a country, it would be the world’s fourth-largest gold producer, behind only China, Australia and Russia.
Walker Lane: The treasure chest you’ve been looking for
Its success lies significantly in three regions Carlin, Cortez and Walker Lane. Whilst the Carlin region has previously taken the headlines, it’s the Walker Lane trend which looks capable of delivering the next big pot of gold.
The Walker Lane is a geologic trough than runs roughly in line with the border between California and Nevada, where the North American Plate meets the Pacific Plate. As well as a significant producer of silver and copper, the mineral belt is host to a number of past and current multi-million-ounce epithermal gold deposits.
Its history stretches back to the late 1850s with the discovery of the famous Comstock Lode. The gold belt holds some of North America’s most crucial mining districts including Comstock, Tonopah, Goldfield, Bullfrog and Aurora.
It’s currently being explored by the likes of Kinross and Barrick at the producing Round Mountain Mine, Gryphon Gold at the Borealis Mine, Newcrest Mining at the Redlich project and Coeur Mining at their Sterling Mine which holds a total inferred resources of 709,000 ounces.
A study by data mining and mineral exploration specialists BW Mining found that, to date, approximately 50 million ounces of gold had been discovered in an area covering roughly 140,000 square kilometres.
For junior gold hunters in Nevada, the Walker Lane Gold Belt offers miners a significantly cheaper exploration target than in Carlin, where sites not already snatched up by the big players are typically deep and out of financial reach for newcomers.
In contrast, Walker Lane remains underexplored offering substantial potential upside. The area is also already known to hold outstanding high-grade gold zones such as at Newrange Golds Pamlico gold project, compared to the Carlin Trend which is generally mining ore less than a gram per tonne.
Tertiary Minerals kick start their hunt for gold
Sounds like an ideal location to go hunting for gold I’d say. And so Tertiary Minerals (TYM) feel too. The AIM-traded mineral exploration and development company announced at the end of May that it was joining the party in Walker Lane, securing a 20-year lease (with the option to buy) over a group of nine patented claims in the area.
The acquisition falls “in line with our strategy to build a new project portfolio which will enable the Company to reduce its future geographical, technical, permitting and commodity risk exposure and provide long-term shareholder value” said MD Richard Clemmey.
Their sites situated in the Pyramid Mining District lies at the Northwest end of the Walker Lane, 40km away from Reno. The company reported that the area has undergone limited exploration in 1989-90.
As part of their announcement, TYM revealed that drilling at hole PYR9 had intersected visible gold and assayed 1.52m grading 17.8 g/t Au from 94.5m down hole. Shiver me timbers!
Mr Clemmey as would be expected was rather happy to deliver the news, commenting: “We are delighted to have acquired an interest in the Pyramid Project. Projects with high-grade gold results in drilling that have not already been followed up are hard to find in Nevada.
Gold in Walker Lane not drying up anytime soon
The move looks an intelligent one for TYM. Whilst Nevada is famous for its droughts, gold supplies in Walker Lane don’t look like they’ll be drying up anytime soon.
This acquisition is just the first step though. Let’s hope that X marks the spot for Tertiary and their next series of announcements reveal some serious treasures.
References
BW Mining Walker Lane
Coeur Mining Sterling, Nevada
Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies, 2018
Investing News Nevada’s Walker Lane Gold Trend Ripe for Discovery
TSX Media Nevada Gold Explorer’s Big Exploration Plans Paying Off
321 Gold Treasures of the Walker Lane