Mr. Jonathan Awde reports
GOLD STANDARD CONFIRMS INTERESTS ACQUIRED IN PINON GOLD DEPOSIT SOUTH OF RAILROAD PROJECT IN NEVADA'S CARLIN TREND
Gold Standard Ventures Corp. has released additional information on the leases entered into with various landholders encompassing approximately 4,128 net mineral acres of land adjacent to the company's flagship Railroad gold project in Elko county, Nevada. Acquisition of these leases was originally announced by Gold Standard in its news release of March 28, 2012.
The leases grant Gold Standard the exclusive right to explore, mine and develop varying percentage holdings in portions of what the company calls the South Railroad project which includes the Pinon district immediately south of the Railroad district. The leases grant Gold Standard control of approximately 32 per cent of strategic sections in the Pinon district which the company estimates give it control of approximately 32 per cent of the historic South Bullion and Trout Creek deposits. Together, these occurrences are known as the Pinon deposit and considerable geologic and exploration data exist for them in recognized peer-reviewed publications. The remaining interests in these lands are held by others including Manhattan Mining Company (MMC) on behalf of Royal Standard Minerals Inc. (RSM).
For the Trout Creek deposit, a paper entitled "Geology of the Trout Creek Disseminated Gold Deposit, Elko Co. Nevada" authored by Phillip Jackson and Joseph Ruetz and published in Geology and Ore Deposits of the Great Basin (GSN, 1991, pages 729 to 734) states that "preliminary geologic reserves are estimated at 150,000 contained ounces of gold and mineralization is open-ended ... . Gold and silver ratio is about 1:8." Another paper from the same volume entitled "Geology and Mineralization at the South Bullion Deposit, Pinion Range, Elko Co., Nevada: Implications for Western United States Cenozoic Tectonics" authored by Borden Putnam and Edmund Henriques (pages 713 to 728) states that "Newmont Exploration Ltd has identified a drill inferred geologic resource exceeding 20 million tons at an average grade of 0.026 oz/st Au, based on 0.01oz/st cutoff, 20 foot minimum bench, and a density of 13 cubic feet per short ton, for a total of 520,000 contained ounces."
Gold Standard cautions that these historic resource and reserve estimates were derived from data assembled prior to the introduction of National Instrument 43-101. The company notes that, to its knowledge, a qualified person has not completed sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as mineral resources or reserves under National Instrument 43-101 and the available data may not meet the standards required to support such a classification. Gold Standard Ventures is therefore not reporting these historical estimates as current mineral resources or reserves.
Dave Mathewson, Gold Standard's vice-president of exploration, noted: "Almost all the mineralized material is oxidized. The alteration and character of the gold mineralization is similar to the Emigrant sediment-hosted gold deposit that Newmont is currently putting into production. In our view, there is potential to expand the known mineralization."
Gold Standard president and chief executive officer Jonathan Awde stated: "As matters now stand, development of Pinon will have to be undertaken jointly by its owners. We look forward to achieving a mutually beneficial arrangement for all parties to advance the Pinon deposit."
As previously reported the provisions for all of the leases are substantially the same and provide for a primary term of 10 years but will continue thereafter as long as commercial mining operations are being conducted on the lands. Each lease is subject to a small upfront signing bonus and annual advance minimum royalty (AMR) payments of $17.50 (U.S.) per acre in the first and second years, increasing to $28.00 (U.S.) per acre in the seventh year and thereafter, of which approximately $125,235.71 (U.S.) has been paid to date. The leases are also subject to a production royalty of 5 per cent of net smelter returns (payable in proportion to the interest held), against which the AMR payments shall be credited and recouped up to 80 per cent.
GSV now controls approximately 19,764 net mineral acres associated with its Railroad project.
The scientific and technical content and interpretations contained in this news release have been reviewed, verified and approved by Steven R. Koehler, Gold Standard's manager of projects, BSc, geology, and CPG-10216, a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, standards of disclosure for mineral projects.
We seek Safe Harbor.