LOVELOCK - Exploratory drilling at the Wilco Project has boosted the site's measured and indicated mineral resources by a whopping 86 percent over previous estimates, owner Rye Patch Gold announced last week.
The company reported that resources from the inactive Colado and Section Line pits now include 1.28 million measured and indicated ounces of gold and 12 million ounces of silver. Inferred resources at the two pits also rose to 541,000 ounces of gold and 6.1 million ounces of silver, the company said June 27.
A Rye Patch consultant based its estimates on the results from 709 drill holes on the exploration-stage property east of Lovelock.
Scott E. Wilson Consulting of Denver calculated the resources using a $1,200 per ounce gold price and $20 per ounce silver, and incorporated information from similar gold and silver deposits in the area to estimate project costs.
Rye Patch Gold President and CEO Bill Howald hailed the results, and said he sees an additional upside through the continuation of drilling and metallurgical test work at the Wilco site.
"The company is delighted with the work completed to date and the in-pit resource estimate generated from the data," Howald said in a statement. "The project appears robust at gold and silver prices that are significantly below the current spot gold and silver price."
To the east of the Wilco Project, Rye Patch continues to solidify its position around the disputed LH Claims.
The company recently entered into an agreement with New Nevada Land, LLC to lease roughly 1,015 acres of private land near Coeur's Rochester Mine. According to Rye Patch, the deal will improve its access to and from exploratory drilling sites adjacent to the Mystic Zone, Nevada Packard Mine and the area just south of its Lincoln Hill Project.
Rye Patch located and recorded 402 unpatented claims in the area last fall, after Coeur inadvertently failed to pay its unpatented claim fees on time.
Coeur has acknowledged its error, but it insists that its claims remain valid.
A related case is scheduled to go to trial this November in Sixth Judicial District Court. In the meantime, both companies continue to operate under the terms of a court injunction that temporarily prevents Rye Patch from conducting exploration work on claims inside the Rochester's active mining areas.
For more information, go to: www.ryepatchgold.com.
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