High Desert Gold Corporation ("HDG" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:
HDG) announced today that the Company has signed an option
agreement with Norvista Resources Corporation ("Norvista"), a
private Canadian corporation headquartered in Toronto, on the
Company's Canasta Dorada project located in Sonora, Mexico. Under
the agreement, Norvista will commit a minimum expenditure of
US$250,000 and maintain the property for six months. Prior to the
end of this option period, Norvista can elect to purchase a 51%
interest in a wholly- owned subsidiary of HDG, to be established
("Newco"), for US$1.5 million. Newco would be set up to hold all
the HDG property interests in the Canasta Dorada Project. Norvista
would be manager of the project under the direction of Mr. Rick
Adams, most recently a founder and director of Castle Gold
Corporation ("Castle Gold"). Under the agreement, Norvista will
then be obligated to take Newco public within one year or risk
losing operatorship.
Ralph Fitch, President and CEO, stated, "I believe this is an
excellent opportunity for the Company and for our shareholders. The
Newco will be led by several former members of the Castle Gold
management team. Castle Gold successfully developed and operated
two open-pit, heap-leach gold mines in Mexico and Guatemala, and
was acquired by Argonaut Gold Corp. for gross proceeds of
approximately Cdn$110 million during the first quarter of this
year. Norvista's immediate focus will be to drill extensions of the
mineralization already defined by HDG's initial drill program. This
affords the Company the opportunity to advance Canasta Dorada
without further expense to HDG or share dilution, while at the same
time, allowing our management team to focus on advancing the two
very promising new gold projects in our portfolio, Gold Springs in
the US and San Antonio in Mexico."
Previous drilling by HDG at Canasta Dorada (see HDG PR 08-08,
May 20, 2008) delineated an open-ended block of approximately 350
by 150 metres in the "Big Pit" area. The average of the grade and
thickness of the holes in this block is:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Average Width
(metres) Average Gold (g/t)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Big Pit
Mineralization 15.7 0.614
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Includes Drill CD-07-001,2,6,7,8,10,11,12,13,13A,14,27
Holes The average width in these holes varies from 8-31 m and
the average grade from 0.2 to 2.1 gpt gold
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is important to note that a "nugget effect" is seen in drill
hole assays, such that large 3 kg cyanide bottle roll assays are
typically higher grade than the 30 gram fire assay results reported
above. This coarse gold is seen in the twin holes CD-07-13 and 13a,
where the assays from individual samples in these holes were
typically 42% to 151% higher in the large bottle roll samples than
in the smaller fire assay samples. The mineralized intercepts from
these two holes were re-analyzed. The 3 kg bottle roll analyses
increased the average grade in DDH 13 from 0.32 grams per tonne
("g/t") to 0.73 g/t over 21 metres, a 90.3% increase in grade, and
in the second drill hole, DDH 13A, the grade increased 9.4% from
1.14 to 1.25 g/t over 23.5 metres (see HDG PR 08-26, dated December
5, 2008).
Approximately one kilometre to the southeast of the "Big Pit"
area, drill hole CD-07-016, located in the "Placer Area" target,
intersected the same flat-lying structural zone and exhibits strong
alteration over greater thicknesses. This hole was located on the
eastern edge of the very strong 800 metre by 800 metre gold anomaly
in the soil that was previously reported (see HDG PR 08-01, January
18, 2008). The initial drill program will test whether the "Big
Pit" mineralization extends in a semi-continuous zone to the
"Placer Area"; a zone large enough to host an important resource
should mineralization be confirmed by drilling.
HDG EXPLORATION UPDATE
Drilling is in progress at the Gold Springs project as was
previously announced (see HDG PR10-12, June 7, 2010). Samples have
been submitted to the assay lab in Reno, Nevada and the first
results are expected back from the lab in July.
As previously reported, the Qualified Person on the Canasta
Dorada project for the Company is Randall Moore, Executive VP of
Exploration, and a certified professional geologist. Please see
High Desert Gold Corporation's website, www.highdesertgoldcorp.com,
for maps and drill hole locations.
ABOUT NORVISTA
Norvista Resources Corporation, founded by noted Canadian mining
company executive, Gerry McCarvill, is a private merchant bank
dedicated to making investments in the natural resource sector. Mr.
McCarvill has been instrumental in the founding of a number of
international mining companies with a value into several billions
of dollars. Norvista is building a portfolio of mining companies
designed to provide investors with a broad exposure to the sector.
www.norvistaresources.com
ABOUT HIGH DESERT GOLD
The Company is a mineral exploration company that acquires and
explores mineral properties, primarily gold, copper and silver, in
North America. The major properties held by HDG are the Canasta
Dorada gold property in Sonora, Mexico, the Gold Springs gold
project situated along the border between Utah and Nevada and the
recently announced San Antonio project in Sonora, Mexico. The
Company is currently well funded for the planned exploration
programs in 2010 and has only 22.9 million shares outstanding.
Certain statements contained herein constitute "forward-looking
statements". Forward-looking statements look into the future and
provide an opinion as to the effect of certain events and trends on
the business. Forward-looking statements may include words such as
"will," "would," "plans," "intends," "anticipates," "should,"
"estimates," "expects," "believes," "indicates," "exhibits,"
"targeting," "suggests," "potential," "interpretation" and similar
expressions. Information concerning the interpretation of drill
results also may be considered forward-looking statements, as such
information constitutes a prediction of what mineralization might
be found to be present if and when a project is actually developed.
These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations
and entail various risks and uncertainties. Actual results may
materially differ from expectations, if known and unknown risks or
uncertainties affect our business, or if our estimates or
assumptions prove inaccurate. Readers are cautioned not to place
undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this
press release. Except as required by law, HDG assumes no obligation
to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a
result of new information, future events or any other reason.
Additional information regarding risks and uncertainties that could
affect the Company's business is contained in the Company's
Management Discussion & Analysis of Financial Position and
Results of Operations, which is available on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
Contacts: High Desert Gold Corporation Richard Doran Executive
Vice President (303) 584-0608 (303) 758-2063 (FAX)
rdoran@highdesertgoldcorp.com
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