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Pilot Gold has already had some great new come out of its Kinsley Mountain project, and the final results of its 2014 drill program don’t disappoint.
Drilling tested the 550-meter-long gap between the Western Flank high-grade zone and the historic pits in the Kinsley Trend, with three holes in a fan from one drill site. PK200, the northerly of the three reverse-circulation holes, saw 6.15 grams per tonne (g/t) gold over 7.6 meters, including 8.73 g/t gold over 4.6 meters (Secret Canyon Shale host).
That provided the first confirmation that high-grade mineralization is present between the two mineralized zones.
2014 results at a glance
Looking at the previous results from the 2014 drill program, the Western Flank zone has seen continuously successful results. Some of the highlights noted in the press release include: 6.85 g/t gold over 41.7 meters in hole PK127C; 10.52 g/t gold over 42.7 meters in hole PK131C; 21.3 g/t gold over 29 meters in PK137C; 6.19 g/t gold over 45.7 meters in hole PK175CA; and 10.31 g/t gold over 39.6 meters in PK186C.
Having said that, gold mineralization was also discovered at the Right Spot, Secret Spot and Silica Knob targets, and according to Pilot Gold, considering the horizon is largely untested, it is unlikely that the Western Flank is the only high-grade zone.
The company also carried out flotation testing on Secret Canyon Shale-hosted mineralization, which saw gold recoveries of up to 95 percent. According a January press release, four samples representing gold grades from 4.23 to 20.3 g/t gold and a variety of cyanide solubility levels were subjected to rougher and scavenger flotation testing over a range of conditions, including variations in grind size, followed by cyanidation of the flotation tails. Combined concentrate recoveries range from a low of 76 percent to a high of 89.6 percent. Combined with cyanidation of the flotation tails, the total recovery increased from 89 to 95 percent.
What’s in store for 2015
Pilot Gold is now focused on its 2015 program, an initial 11,000-meter drill program that includes extending the Western Flank discovery and identifying additional areas of high-grade mineralization in the Secret Canyon Shale horizon. The field program is currently budgeted at US$20 million, and Tuesday’s press release states that targets range from early stage tests in the Kinsley North area to fan drilling in the area between the historic pits and the Western Flank zone.
“In 2015 we plan to test a number of new targets in the main claim area as well as first-pass drilling of the northern claims. Coupled with the recent metallurgical results, Kinsley Mountain is quickly establishing itself as the premier exploration project in the Great Basin,” Matt Lennox-King, president and CEO of Pilot Gold, said in the release.
At close of day on Tuesday, shares of Pilot Gold were up 1.94 percent, trading at $1.05.
Securities Disclosure: I, Kristen Moran, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.