Maverick Springs Project

Site Name

Primary: Maverick Springs Project

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Commodity

Primary: Silver
Secondary: Gold

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Location

State: Nevada
County: Elko
District: Mud Springs District (closest)

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Land Status

Land ownership: BLM Administrative Area
Note: the land ownership field only identifies whether the area the mine is in is generally on public lands like Forest Service or BLM land, or if it is in an area that is generally private property. It does not definitively identify property status, nor does it indicate claim status or whether an area is open to prospecting. Always respect private property.
Administrative Organization: Ely BLM district

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Holdings

Not available

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Workings

Not available

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Ownership

Owner Name: Silver Standard Resources, Inc. (Ag resources)
Info Year: 2004

Owner Name: Vista Gold Corp. (Au resources)
Info Year: 2004

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Production

Not available

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Deposit

Record Type: Site
Operation Category: Producer
Deposit Type: sediment-hosted gold
Operation Type: Surface
Discovery Year: 1986
Years of Production:
Organization:
Significant: Y
Deposit Size: S

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Physiography

Not available

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Mineral Deposit Model

Model Name: Sediment-hosted Au

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Orebody

Form: arch-shaped

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Structure

Type: R
Description: The Maverick Springs Range is an east-tilted fault block.

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Alterations

Not available

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Rocks

Name: Clastic Sedimentary Rock
Role: Host
Description: fine-grained calcareous
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Early Permian

Name: Limestone
Role: Host
Description: Silty
Age Type: Host Rock
Age Young: Early Permian

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Analytical Data

Not available

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Materials

Ore: Silver
Ore: Gold

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Comments

Comment (Deposit): Maverick Springs hosts a large silver-rich system that may be amenable to low unit cost bulk mining, similar to Carlin-type deposits. The Maverick Springs Project is underlain primarily by Upper Paleozoic calcareous and siliciclastic sediments covered by local basin-fill Tertiary volcanic rocks. Silty limestone and fine-grained calcareous clastic sediments of the Permian Rib Hill Formation are the dominant hosts to the silver-gold mineralization at Maverick Springs. These units generally strike to the north and dip to the east. Intrusives of felsic and intermediate composition have been intersected in drill holes and these are believed to be feeder systems for the Tertiary basin fill volcanics. The target mineralization does not crop out and has been delineated by programs of reverse circulation (RC) and diamond core (DD) drill holes. The target trends NNE and occurs as a gently-folded sub-horizontal zone, of dimensions of approximately 8,000 ft along strike and 2,500 ft wide. The zone of mineralization is approximately 200 ft thick and occurs at depths of 500 ft to 600 ft below surface. The silver-gold mineralization forms an arch-shaped zone of about 8,000 feet in length, with a width of 2,500 feet and a thickness of approximately 200 feet. Mineralization is open to the south and north-northwest. The Maverick Springs gold-silver property contains a large, flat-lying, Carlin-type system with gold-silver mineralization occurring in a zone 100 to 400 feet in thickness.

Comment (Commodity): Ore Materials: silver, gold

Comment (Development): The property was first staked in 1986 by Artemis Exploration Company. Vista Gold Corp. acquired a lease on the property in December 2001 and subsequently formed a joint venture with the company in 2002. Silver Standard Resources, Inc. will own the silver resource while Vista Gold will own the gold resource. A seven-hole drill program, completed in November 2002, extended mineralization at least 2,000 feet north and 1,200 feet west of the area used for present resource calculations. Results of the 2002 program indicated that the mineralized system is not closed and the resources could be increased by a minimum of 50% with infill drilling. Higher-grade gold and silver mineralization were also encountered in this program. A 14-hole drill program, completed in October 2003, confirmed gold-silver mineralization within a zone measuring 2,500 feet by 2,000 feet. One step-out hole drilled 1,400 feet from the infill area intercepted anomalous gold mineralization, significantly expanding the potential for the project. Higher grade gold intercepts included 10 feet of gold mineralization in drill hole MR-147 assaying 0.134 opt gold. The project is subject to an option/joint venture earn-in agreement between Vista and Silver Standard Resources Inc. in which Silver Standard will acquire all silver mineralization hosted at Maverick Springs while Vista will retain all gold mineralization. In order to earn its interest, Silver Standard has paid US$300,000 in cash and will contribute an additional total of US$1.2 million toward exploration programs, land holding costs and option payments. A total of 159 holes have been drilled on the property, including 16 by the joint venture in 2003. Plans are to continue drilling to increase the resource, carry out further metallurgical studies to refine a recovery process and improve silver recoveries, and complete a scoping study to define the project economics. Drilling in 2003 improved the resource, and mineralization in holes 1,450 feet northwest and 2,000 feet south of the current resource body indicates good potential for further improvements to the resource.

Comment (Economic Factors): In 2002: the deposit was reported to contain 350,000 ounces of gold and 32.3 million ounces of silver indicated, and 747,000 ounces of gold, 68.8 million ounces of silver inferred. In July 2004, Silver Standard Resources Inc. announced that based on recent drill results at the Maverick Springs Project, indicated resources are 69,630,000 tons of ore grading 1.0 opt Ag fand 0.01 ounces per tone gold, or 696,000 contained ounces of gold, plus 85,500,000 tons grading 1.0 opt Ag and 0.08 opt gold inferred, or 684,000 contained ounces of gold, an increase over the earlier reported 27,280,000 tons a 1.19 opt Ag indicated and 56,650,000 tons at 1.21 opt Ag inferred. Resource calculations were completed by Snowden Mining Industry Consultants of Vancouver, British Columbia, an independent consultant, in April 2004. A cutoff grade of 1.0 silver-equivalent ounces per ton was calculated using metal price averages over the past three years of US$327 per ounce for gold and US$4.77 per ounce for silver. Preliminary test work of the mineralization indicates a process of milling with cyanide leaching will yield recoveries of 63% to 97% for silver.

Comment (Geology): The geology in the region is dominated by limestones and dolostones of the Permian Pennsylvanian Rib Hill Formation, limestones of the Permian Pequop Formation, and carbonate strata of the Permian Park City Group that were deposited along a continental margin. The sediments have been intruded locally by Cretaceous acidic to intermediate, biotitic igneous rocks and have been overlain by Tertiary rhyolites, Late Tertiary tuffs and sediments. The Carlin Trend marks a deep penetrating fault that separates relatively thick and stable continental crust to the east from a zone of thinned transitional crust to the west. Late Basin and Range faulting has left a northeast lineation to the topography and structural setting. This trend is offset by northwest trending structures that locally produce horsts of pre-Cenozoic units that are bounded to the northeast and southwest by Tertiary units.

Comment (Identification): This is in the general area as the earlier described Maverick Springs prospect, M233985, but is a different prospect with different geology. It is sometimes described with the Bald Mountain District deposits in White Pine County although it is in adjacent Elko County.

Comment (Location): The Maverick Springs deposit is located on the northwest flank of the Maverick Springs Range about 50 miles southeast of Elko, Nevada and 70 miles NNW of Ely. Access is by a 25-mile gravel road from the town of Ruby Valley.

Comment (Workings): surafce exploration and drilling

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References

Reference (Deposit): Staccato Gold

Reference (Deposit): Resources Ltd. news release, 11/19/2004.

Reference (Deposit): Smith, Roscoe M. (1976) Mineral Resources of Elko Co, NV, USGS Open File Report 1976-56

Reference (Deposit): LaPointe and others, 1991, NBMG Bull. 106

Reference (Deposit): NBMG MI-02

Reference (Deposit): Amer. Mines (2003), 2002

Reference (Deposit): Ruby Lake Land Status, 1978

Reference (Deposit): Snowden, 2002

Reference (Deposit): www.vistagold.com

Reference (Deposit): Vista Gold Corp. press release, 4/21/2004.

Reference (Deposit): Long, K.R., DeYoung, J.H., Jr., and Ludington, S.D., 1998, Significant deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc in the United States: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 90-206A, 33 p.; 98-206B. one 3.5 inch diskette.

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Nevada Gold

Nevada has a total of 368 distinct gold districts. Of the of those, just 36 are major producers with production and/or reserves of over 1,000,000 ounces, 49 have production and/or reserves of over 100,000 ounces, with the rest having less than 100,000 ounces. Read more: Gold Districts of Nevada.