High Desert Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE:HDG)(PINK SHEETS:HDGCF) announces results from rock chip and soil sampling programs from several of the developing gold targets at the Gold Springs Project in Nevada and Utah.
The Company has now delineated 16 gold targets that warrant drilling, and the Phase 2 drill program will be initiated in the spring of this year.
Exploration continues to discover high-grade gold targets at the Gold Springs project. Two new target areas have been defined, the Camp Bell and Homestead areas. At Camp Bell, a float sample in a mostly covered area assayed 145 gpt gold and 148 gpt silver. At Homestead, anomalous rock samples have been collected over widths of up to 10 metres with the highest assay of 8 gpt gold coming from a grab sample.
Further sampling within previously identified target areas continues to generate very encouraging results. The latest rock chip sampling returned numerous assays greater than 5 gpt gold.
These new sample results will be combined with earlier work to better define drill targets for the Phase 2 drill program planned for the spring of this year. Exploration continues to identify numerous silicified structural zones surrounded by stockwork veins and breccias. These structures have been followed for distances of up to 1.5 kilometres with stockwork veining and breccia zones extending over widths of up to 400 metres.
Management is increasingly confident, based on these results, that the Gold Springs project hosts broad areas of gold mineralization as well as individual high-grade quartz adularia veins which can assay greater than one ounce per tonne gold. The very encouraging surface geochemistry and geology have led to the development of new drill targets in areas that have not been previously tested.
The new Camp Bell target is located 3,000 metres southwest of the Silica Hill target in an area dominated by post-mineral cover. The material sampled that assayed 145.68 gpt gold was from a broad area of float that is believed to be locally derived. This discovery supports management's expectation that there are zones of mineralization that will be discovered under the extensive areas of post-mineral cover. The Homestead target area is a newly discovered zone that displays sheeted and stockwork veins over an area extending 500 metres along strike before going under cover, with widths of up to 400 metres.
HDG also completed a soil sampling program over a portion of the claim block in order to better define the size and continuity of some of the high priority target areas. A total of 697 samples were collected on a 100x50 metre grid over the northern portion of the property. Gold values obtained from the soil samples ranged from a low of below detection to a high of 1.302 gpt gold. Three large areas of anomalous soil geochemistry were defined; they measured 950x1500 metres, 400x800 metres and 580x650 metres, respectively. These latest positive results will assist with the process of defining new drill targets.
HDG has submitted a new Notice of Intent to the US Bureau of Land Management for a Phase 2 drill program which will be initiated in the spring of 2011 as soon as snow conditions allow.
Assays were performed in Reno, Nevada by Inspectorate Laboratories, an ISO 9001:2000 Certified laboratory. Gold was analyzed by fire assay of a 30 gram sample with an AA finish.
The Gold Springs property is under option from Fronteer Gold Inc. High Desert Gold Corporation can earn a 60% interest over a five-year period by spending US$1 million on exploration and paying Fronteer Gold US$160,000.
The Qualified Person on the Gold Springs project is Randall Moore, EVP Exploration and a certified professional geologist. He has reviewed the content of this press release.
Source: High Desert Gold Corporation