Golden Phoenix Minerals, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: GPXM) has announced its joint venture partner, Scorpio Gold has begun a 43,200 foot three-phase drill program on the Mineral Ridge gold project in Nevada, in which the Company maintains a thirty percent interest via its membership interest in Mineral Ridge Gold, LLC; the joint venture entity that owns and operates the Mineral Ridge property with Scorpio.
Mr. Peter J. Hawley, CEO of Scorpio Gold, has reported that Phase I drilling is designed to expand and upgrade the existing mineral resource estimate in the vicinity of the existing pits scheduled for mining by Scorpio this year. Phase II is designed to further expand the resource base and define additional open pits. Phase III is focused on a property-wide exploration scale to target numerous gold-bearing mineralized zones and structures discovered during Scorpio's surface exploration program.
"Golden Phoenix expects to add additional drill results to the overall district in the second half of 2011," stated Tom Klein, CEO of Golden Phoenix. "We are advancing our exploration of the Vanderbilt and Coyote Fault properties as planned and anticipate drilling these properties in the second half of 2011."
MINERAL RIDGE PHASE I DRILLING
Phase I drilling is expected to cover 10,800 feet (3,292 meters) and is planned for completion in advance of commencement of open pit mining, scheduled for March 2011 subject to finalization of permitting by Scorpio and is scheduled to include:
- Drilling along the north edge of the planned Mary North open pit, targeting the down dip extension of the 314 and Cord mineralized zones. Recent pit designs based on US $1,300.00 per ounce gold indicate additional drilling has the potential to extend the pit downward and merge two small sub-pits within the Mary North pit.
- Drilling of the Cord zone between the Mary North pit and the deeper Mary LC deposit along strike and to the southeast.
- Drilling between the Drinkwater and Mary North pits along the projected northwest strike of the mineralized body. Previous drilling indicates a large area of gold mineralization that is open in two directions.
- Deep drilling to the northwest of the Drinkwater pit in an area previously mined and drilled by underground methods. Limited surface drilling in this area indicates that the underground drilling may have missed significant mineralization.
- Drilling of potential open pit mineralization along strike and to the northwest of the existing Drinkwater pit.
MINERAL RIDGE PHASE II DRILLING
Phase II drilling is expected to cover 25,000 feet (7,620 meters) and is scheduled to begin in late March of this year and is scheduled to include:
- Drilling of the Wedge B open pit area (1,000 feet; 305 meters) southwest from the Drinkwater pit.
- Drilling of the south Chieftain area (1,500 feet; 457 meters) west of the Drinkwater pit, to follow-up on historical drilling that intersected a significant gold-bearing quartz body.
- Drilling of the north Chieftain area, (1,500 feet; 457 meters) west of the Drinkwater pit, where gold bearing quartz veins outcrop.
- Drilling of the Solberry deposit, (3,000 feet; 914 meters) west of the Drinkwater pit, where previous shallow reverse circulation (RC) drilling has defined a small, near surface deposit. Numerous gold bearing, shallow quartz "ledges" outcrop over this area.
- Drilling of the Bluelite deposit (3,500 feet; 1,067 meters) west- southwest of the Drinkwater pit, where previous shallow RC drilling has defined a near surface gold deposit of unknown extent.
- Drilling of the Custer zone (3,500 feet; 1,067 meters), which is the southeast strike projection of the Mary LC pit mineralization. Historical drilling indicates widespread gold mineralization in this area.
MINERAL RIDGE PHASE III DRILLING (Exploration)
Phase III drilling is expected to cover 7,400 feet (2,255 meters) and is scheduled to begin in April of this year and is scheduled to include:
- Drilling 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) to the west-southwest of the Drinkwater pit where numerous surface grab samples collected over a distance of 600 feet (183 meters) on a gold-bearing structure composed of quartz and quartz flooding reported values ranging from 0.05 to 5.6 ounces per ton (OPT) equivalent to 1.42 to 158.76 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.
- Drilling 2.5 miles (4.02 kilometers) to the south-southwest of the Drinkwater pit where numerous surface grab samples collected over a distance of 800 feet (244 meters) on a gold-bearing structure similar to that described above reported values ranging from 0.043 to 4.6 OPT (1.22 to 130.41 g/t) gold.
- Drilling 1.8 miles (2.9 kilometers) south of the Drinkwater pit where numerous surface grab samples collected over a distance of 400 feet (122 meters) on a gold-bearing structure reported values ranging from 0.12 to 3.18 OPT (3.4 to 107.7 g/t) gold.
- Drilling 1.12 miles (1.8 kilometers) east-northeast of the Drinkwater pit where numerous surface grab samples on a northwest-trending structure returned 0.03 to 0.25 OPT (0.85 to 7.09 g/t) gold.
Mr. Peter J. Hawley, PGeo, is Scorpio Gold's Qualified Person and CEO for the various Scorpio Gold projects. Mr. Hawley is responsible for the current exploration and development program at Mineral Ridge.
Source: Golden Phoenix Minerals, Inc.