Northern Vertex hits wide zones of gold and silver at Moss project

Northern Vertex Mining Corp. (CVE:NEE) has unveiled some wide intersections of gold and silver mineralization from its Moss mine project in Arizona, as the company wrapped up its exploration program testing for extensions of the resource. 

The company revealed results Wednesday received so far from its recently-completed 15-hole diamond drilling program at the mine, which was aimed at testing the potential for extending the near-surface mineralization in the western section of the deposit.

The campaign was also designed to test for deep extensions of the Moss mineralization, and to provide additional mineral resource information from two areas near the eastern end of the planned pit in phase II of development. 

Notable results included 36.6 metres of 1.16 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent and 18.3 metres of 2.13 g/t gold equivalent. 

The drilling, the company said, was done as part of a recommended $1.15 million exploration program, of which around two thirds has now been spent. Results from the drilling are still pending for five holes, with none of the information from the campaign used in the previous mineral resource estimates. 

Northern Vertex said that some of the holes substantiate the potential of the "widespread stockwork mineralization" to continue to the south beyond the current limit of the resource, while other results showed that mineralization continues at depth to at least 200 metres vertically from surface. 

The Moss Mine deposit extends over a strike length of 1,400 metres and has been drill tested to depths of 200 metres vertically. A recent preliminary economics report shows that the project has a net present value of $105 million pre-tax, with an IRR of 113 per cent. 

Northern Vertex has the right to earn a 70 percent interest in the property from Patriot Gold Corp by spending $8 million and preparing a feasibility study. It has spent a total of $5.6 million so far. 

The Moss project has a three-phase mine development plan, which is designed to move the project forward from conceptual design and lab test work to on-site pilot plant testing and then onto operations, the latter of which would be dubbed phase II. The third phase, which the company says is conceptual only and will depend on the success of phase II, would involve mine life extension or expansion, and was not included in the preliminary economic report.