Corvus Gold extends size of high-grade vein deposit at Terra property

Corvus Gold (TSE:KOR) (OTCQX:CORVF) announced Tuesday results from its 2011 resource expansion drilling program on its Terra project in the McGrath mining district of Western Alaska, significantly expanding the potential size of the deposit.
The company said the four-hole program has been successful in extending the high grade Ben Vein system an additional 200 metres to the north.
In addition, other vein zones outside the resource area were intersected in the drilling, further increasing the potential of the overall system.
Currently, the project has an NI 43-101 compliant inferred resource of 428,000 tonnes at an average grade of 12.2 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold and 23.1 g/t silver for a total of 168,000 ounces of gold and 318,000 ounces of silver.
Next year, joint venture partner WestMountain said they plan to follow up on this year's program with further resource expansion drilling, and to initiate bulk sampling gold production with the pilot-plant scale mill constructed in 2011.
WestMountain's ultimate aim at Terra is to bring the deposit into year-round production as soon as possible, it said.
Highlights of the results include 7.42 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold and 69.39 g/t silver over 0.84 metres and including 15.6 g/t gold and 138 g/t silver over 0.31 metres in hole WGC-33-11.
In addition, 8.15 g/t gold and 69.69 g/t silver over 5.60 metres were returned in hole WGC-34B-11 including 11.6 g/t gold and 106.5 g/t silver over 3.40 metres.
Meanwhile, hole WGC-35-11, a 200 metre step out from the Ben Vein, intersected 25.6 g/t gold and 4.9 g/t silver over 0.53 metres.
The company said that in addition to expanding the Ben Vein system to the north, the results have also confirmed the extension of the system at similar grades to the existing resource to the south.
The drilling also intersected additional vein systems in the hanging wall of the main Ben Vein, which returned "encouraging" gold and silver values, Corvus said, and will be followed up in future work.
"The expansion of the Ben Vein system confirms our belief that the Terra gold system has significant potential to host a major high-grade gold - silver deposit," said Corvus CEO, Jeff Pontius.
"We are looking forward to seeing the first gold production from this significant new Alaskan gold discovery beginning next year and the financial strength that will add to our company."
Regional work this year also identified a new gold system roughly 15 kilometres to the southeast of the Terra deposit, which has now been staked and has returned numerous stream samples of more than 100 parts per billion (ppb) gold, with a high of 2,000 ppb gold.
Corvus said these stream silt values are similar to those collected from the main Terra trend prior to its discovery. The company's property position now covers some 205 square kilometres, making it one of the larger exploration properties in Alaska.
The Terra gold project consists of 350 State of Alaska unpatented lode mining claims and is centered on an 8-kilometre-long trend of high-grade gold vein occurrences.
Under the terms of a joint venture agreement signed in September 2010, Terra Mining Corp, which was acquired by WestMountain in March of this year, has the option to earn a 51 percent interest in the Terra property by spending a total of US$6.0 million over three years, with a right to further increase its stake to 80 percent with a US$9.5 million investment over a four-year period. So far, Terra has spent roughly US$2 million.
Corvus is entitled to a net smelter royalty of between 0.5% and 5% on all precious metal production from the project and a 1% royalty on all base metal production.
Shares of the company rose 1.6 percent on Tuesday, to trade at 63 cents as of 10:08am ET.