 | |
| |
Northward Extension of the Ore-hosting Pipeline Fault
The Excluded Claims venture with Barrick Gold is strategically located approximately 4,000 ft north of the Pipeline open pit mine. The claims encompass a number of important structural elements including the northward extension of the ore-hosting Pipeline fault.
Earn-in Agreement with Barrick Gold
The project is subject to an Earn-In Agreement and Mining Venture Agreement with Barrick Gold in which Coral owns a 39 percent carried interest in 219 unpatented lode claims. Barrick, which operates the nearby Cortez/Pipeline mine, is manager of the joint venture.
Major Feeder Structures for Carlin-type Mineralization
Portions of the Excluded Claims are located within the northern half of the Gold Acres structural window, a wedge-shaped horst block, bounded on the east by the regionally significant Pipeline fault and the northeast-striking Gold Acres fault along the west. Both faults are postulated to have acted as major feeder structures for Carlin-type mineralization at the Pipeline and Gold Acres mines, respectively. These important ore-controlling structural features are known to extend on to the Excluded Claims. These geological relationships are summarized in Figure 2.
Potential for the Discovery of Deep, Carlin-style Mineralization
Beginning in 1997 and continuing through 1998, Cortez (under the previous joint venture with Barrick and Placer Dome) conducted a series of exploratory drilling programs on the Excluded Claims with only limited success. In 2002, Coral conducted a limited follow up drilling program on the claims with generally mixed results. To date, no significant mineral resources have been discovered on the claims. However, the wide-spaced deep drilling has established the presence of scattered significant gold values, anomalous levels of Carlin-type trace elements, key structural components and the occurrence of a preferred host strata. Together with the wide-spaced nature of the drilling, these features indicate that potential remains for the discovery of deep Carlin-style mineralization.
| | |
