Columbus Gold Completes 2016 Drill Program and Commences Metallurgical Testing at Eastside Gold Project, Nevada
Vancouver, BC, Canada, August 30th, 2016. Columbus Gold Corp. (CGT: TSX, CBGDF: OTCQX) is pleased to announce the conclusion of its 2016 drilling program at its 100% owned Eastside gold project in Nevada. Columbus completed 17,500 meters (57,413 feet) of drilling during the 2016 program - 12,663 meters (41,544 feet) of reverse circulation rotary drilling and 4,837 meters (15,869 feet) of diamond core drilling. To present, a total of 37,311 meters (122,411 feet) of drilling in 136 holes has been completed at Eastside. Columbus is aiming to complete a maiden resource estimate at Eastside in the fall.
Eastside is a district scale project consisting of 725 claims covering 57.7 sq. km (22.55 sq. miles), in an area of outstanding infrastructure. Significant gold values of up to 27.9 g/t have been obtained in surface sampling at Eastside and so far seven (7) large geochem anomalies have been identified, however drilling to date has been confined almost exclusively to one target (referred to as the Original Target), in an area of only approximately 1,250 X 800 meters, or about 1 sq. km., of the large 57.7 sq. km land package.
Thorough oxidation is remarkably deep at Eastside in certain areas, exceeding 300 meters in places. Cyanide-leach, bottle-roll tests on 40 drill samples began at KCA in June, 2016. These 40 samples range in grade from 0.16 g/t gold to 1.5 g/t gold, and are of all ore types, depths, oxidation states, and host lithology. This testing will be completed in September 2016. Initial metallurgical testing at Eastside was completed by Kappes, Cassiday, and Associates (KCA) in 2014. The tests were 96 hour, cyanide-leach, bottle-roll tests, and were reported in a Columbus Gold press release on July 10, 2014. The 2014 testing indicated gold at Eastside was highly amenable to extraction using cyanide, irrespective of alteration type, depth, host rock lithology, grade, or state of oxidation (a link to the full KCA report is available in the August 10, 2014 press release). Columbus is currently planning a third phase metallurgical program of column-leach testing on various sizes of drill core from 2016 drilling. The column-leach testing will provide information to evaluate potential heap leaching at Eastside, in particular whether all, or parts, of the Eastside gold mineralization will need to be crushed and, if so, the optimum size of crushing.
The Eastside project has outstanding infrastructure for mining and processing, is 32 km (20 miles) west of Tonopah, Nevada, and lies 9.7 km (6 miles) north of paved highway US 95, the main road route from Las Vegas to Reno. A good County-maintained, gravel road from the highway, along with a major power transmission line both pass through the claim block. The claim block extends well into the adjacent flats, which would provide excellent operating sites. The valley is known to have shallow water available in the same aquifer, which provided water for milling in the early 1900's. The area is high desert with sparse vegetation, and year-round drilling is possible.
QA/QC and Qualified Person
Gold and silver assays for 2016 drilling were performed by American Assay Labs in Sparks, Nevada. American inserts blinds and standards in the drill-hole assay string-generally 7% of all assays performed are of standards or blinds. For 2016 drilling, gold analyses are by fire assay with atomic absorption finish. Silver assays are by fire assay with gravimetric finish. In addition, Columbus also inserts blank samples and also standard samples of known gold and silver assay values in the drill assay string for quality control. Additional check sampling is ongoing and, if material differences occur, will be reported. The position of all 2016 drill holes were surveyed with a submeter GPS system and also surveyed downhole by IDS.
Andy Wallace is a Certified Professional Geologist (CPG) with the American Institute of Professional Geologists and is the Qualified Person under NI 43-101 who has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release. Mr. Wallace is the principal of Cordilleran Exploration Company (Cordex), which is conducting exploration and project generation activities for Columbus Gold on an exclusive basis.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,
Robert F. Giustra
Chairman & CEO
For more information contact:
Investor Relations
(604) 634-0970 or
1-888-818-1364
This release contains forward-looking information and statements, as defined by law including without limitation Canadian securities laws and the "safe harbor" provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("forward-looking statements"), respecting Columbus' intended plans for a resource estimate, expected results and time frame to complete the resource estimate and the metallurgical testing. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to materially differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the accuracy of interpretations; mineral reserve and resource estimates (including the risk of assumption and methodology errors); dependence on third parties for services; non-performance by contractual counterparties; and general economic conditions. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, including without limitation assumptions about: market prices, exploitation and exploration success; that the design of the drill plan is appropriate for the site; general business and economic conditions; continued availability of capital and financing; ability to procure equipment and supplies including, without limitation, ongoing relations with employees and partners. The foregoing list is not exhaustive and Columbus undertakes no obligation to update any of the foregoing except as required by law.
