Ridgeline Minerals Announces Nevada Gold Mines to Commence Drilling at the Swift Gold Project, Nevada
Vancouver, Canada, November 30, 2021 – Ridgeline Minerals Corp. (“Ridgeline” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: RDG | OTCQB: RDGMF | FRA: 0GC0) is pleased to announce that Nevada Gold Mines LLC (“NGM” or “Nevada Gold Mines”), a joint venture between Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Corp., has mobilized a drill rig to the Swift Gold Project (“Swift”) located on the Cortez District of the Battle Mountain – Eureka mine trend (Figure 1). Ridgeline entered into an exploration earn-in agreement with NGM on September 22, 2021 (see press release HERE) where NGM can incur a minimum US$20 million (US$4 million guaranteed) in qualifying work expenditures over an initial five-year term to earn an initial 60% interest in the Swift gold project. NGM will have further options to increase its interest to a total 75% interest, subject to additional expenditures and commitments. Details of the initial single hole drill program to be completed in Q4, 2021 are highlighted below.
Drill Program Highlights
- The first drill hole (900 metres) will target mineralized fault intersections within favourable lower plate carbonate host rocks of the Wenban and Roberts Mountains Formations (Figure 2).
- Ridgeline’s 2020 Phase I drill program intersected Lower Plate carbonate host rocks of the Cortez District for the first time at Swift including the Wenban Formation (primary host to all >5.0-million-ounce gold deposits in the Cortez District).
- The target area exhibits a kilometer-scale gold (“Au”), coincident Carlin-type pathfinder surface soil anomalies and rock chip samples grading from below detection limit up to 9.82 grams per tonne (“g/t”) Au (Figure 2).
- A single historical drillhole (MCK-99-5A) located approximately 750 metres (“m”) northwest of the target area returned 18.3m grading 0.65 g/t Au and 0.46 g/t Ag starting at a depth of 727 m.
Chad Peters, Ridgeline’s President, CEO & Director commented, “In line with our strategy to advance exploration projects to create shareholder value, we are pleased to announce that our partner, Nevada Gold Mines, has commenced drilling at the Swift gold project. NGM has been working closely with Ridgeline to target this initial drill hole following the recent execution of the Earn-In Agreement. As a result, Ridgeline’s shareholders will now have three of our four projects drill tested in 2021.”
Figure 1: Regional map of the Cortez District showing the Swift gold project adjacent to the Nevada Gold Mines owned Cortez Complex
Swift Project
Swift is located on the Cortez District of the historic Battle Mountain – Eureka Trend approximately 30 km south of the town of Battle Mountain, in Lander County, Nevada. The 75 km² property is on trend to the Pipeline, Cortez Hills, and Goldrush deposits (View our Swift VRIFY Presentation), which comprise the multi-million ounce Cortez Complex owned by Nevada Gold Mines (a joint venture between Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Corp.). Ridgeline entered into an exploration earn-in agreement with NGM on September 22, 2021, where NGM can incur a minimum US$20 million (US$4 million guaranteed) in qualifying work expenditures over an initial five-year term to earn an initial 60% interest in the Swift gold project. NGM will have further options to increase its interest to a total 75% interest, subject to additional expenditures and commitments.
Figure 2: Map showing NGM drill hole location over arsenic in soils contours and gold rock chips. Note Ridgeline drill holes SW20-001 and SW20-002, which identified relatively shallow (~400 m) Wenban formation host rocks for the first time on the project in 2020.
QAQC Procedures
All Ridgeline samples are submitted to Paragon Geochemical Assay Laboratories (PAL) of Sparks, NV, which is a certified and accredited laboratory, independent of the Company. Samples are run through standard prep methods and analysed using AU-OES30 (Au; 30g fire assay AQR digest) and 34MA-OESm (35 element Suite; 0.5g 4-acid digestion/ICP-MS; + 10ppb Hg) methods. Ridgeline’s QA/QC program includes regular insertion of CRM standards, duplicates, and blanks into the sample stream
Technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Michael T. Harp, P.Geo. the Company’s Vice President, Exploration, a qualified person within the meaning thereof under National Instrument 43-101 and responsible for technical matters of this release.
About Ridgeline Minerals Corp.
Ridgeline is a discovery focused gold-silver explorer with a proven management team and a 154 km² exploration portfolio across four projects in the highly prospective Carlin and Battle Mountain – Eureka Trends in Nevada, USA. More information about Ridgeline can be found at www.RidgelineMinerals.com.
On behalf of the Board
“Chad Peters”
President & CEO
Further Information:
Chad Peters, P.Geo.
President & CEO
Ridgeline Minerals Corp.
1-866-RDG-NVAU (734-6828) – toll free
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Cautionary Note regarding Forward Looking Statements
Statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are “forward-looking information” or “forward-looking statements” (collectively, “Forward-Looking Information”) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-Looking Information includes, but is not limited to, the anticipated benefits of the Earn-In Agreement and the transaction contemplated thereby. The words “potential”, “anticipate”, “meaningful”, “discovery”, “forecast”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “may”, “will”, “project”, “plan”, “historical”, “historic” and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify Forward-Looking Information. Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by the Forward-Looking Information. In preparing the Forward-Looking Information in this news release, Ridgeline has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions that the current objectives concerning its mineral projects (including Swift) can be achieved and that its other corporate activities will proceed as expected; that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner; and that all requisite information will be available in a timely manner. Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Ridgeline to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the Forward-Looking Information. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to dependence on key personnel; risks related to unforeseen delays; risks related to historical data that has not been verified by the Company; as well as those factors discussed in Ridgeline’s public disclosure record. Although Ridgeline has attempted to identify important factors that could affect Ridgeline and may cause actual actions, events, or results to differ materially from those described in Forward-Looking Information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that Forward-Looking Information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on Forward-Looking Information. Except as required by law, Ridgeline does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to Forward-Looking Information contained in this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.