Resource World Magazine

42 www.resourceworld.com f e b r u a r y / m a r c h 2 0 1 6 mINING P rospecting for hard rock gold deposits can be traced back over 5,000 years to the Eastern Desert of Egypt where early miners discovered gold-bearing outcrops; however, it wasn't until the 19th century that a real understanding of geology was developed. Since that time, there have been a number of advances that helped prospectors and geologists find the golden prize – assaying, diamond drilling, ground and airborne geophysics, rock geochemistry, bio- geochemistry, and satellite imagery, and each have helped to push exploration into new places, resulting in new waves of discoveries. Today, unless a region has been ignored for whatever reason, most of the gold deposits readily identifiable with these tools have now been found. Explorers must search for new ways to look in new places, and the current focus of much this research is on developing exploration methods to look for new deposits in "blind" settings where bedrock is covered beneath sands, gravels, and other material. Junior explorer Nevada exploration inc. [NGE-TSXV; NVDEF -OTCQX] has taken up this challenge, developing proprietary exploration technology to test directly for gold hidden in the bedrock beneath the alluvial cover (overburden) in Nevada's vast valleys. This is a timely development, particularly in Nevada. Approximately half of Nevada's bedrock is exposed, and a great deal of gold has been and continues to be mined from these areas. The other half of Nevada's bedrock is cov- ered and hidden beneath its valleys, leaving the potential for discovering considerable new buried gold deposits for those that know how to find them. According to James Buskard, President of Nevada Exploration, there is likely an equivalent amount of gold waiting to be found in Nevada's covered half as has already been found in Nevada's exposed half; the trick is to find these 'blind' deposits. Looking at the deserts of Nevada, it is not apparent but the alluvial overburden is actually saturated with groundwater. That is where the company's new exploration technology comes in; it can identify the unique groundwater chemistry or 'scents' associated with gold mineralization. Company geologists can then follow it back upstream to search for the potentially gold-bearing bedrock source. Buskard has a background in applied hydrogeochem- istry and spatial modeling and was a key member of the company's sampling team that in 2004 began the first systematic gold exploration program in Nevada using hydrogeochemistry. In an interview, Buskard reviewed how his company's ground- water technology was developed. "In the 1990s, the USGS conducted a survey at the Twin Creeks gold deposit in Nevada using monitor wells, boreholes, and springs to analyze the groundwater chemistry surrounding the deposit," he explained. "The report showed that the groundwater chemistry in and around this covered gold deposit contained distinct hydrogeo- chemical signatures defined by elevated concentrations of gold and other indicator elements recognizable against the background geochemistry. Understanding the significance that groundwater presented a relatively inexpensive sampling medium that could be used to find other gold deposits in covered settings. Wade Hodges, our CEO, began to build the team to complete the first regional scale groundwater chemistry exploration program for gold in Nevada. We begin by sampling water wells, windmills, and springs in a prospective covered basin areas. If these sample results are encouraging, we then use what is called a geoprobe to collect additional water samples and tighten the net." After the groundwater technology identifies exploration tar- gets, the company then carries out a staged exploration program to define and test prospective drill targets. Nevada Exploration is currently advancing five properties in north-central Nevada that Nevada Exploration's Kenneth Tullar preparing to collect a groundwater sample from a geoprobe sample location at a covered bedrock target in north-central Nevada. Photo courtesy Nevada Exploration Inc. NEvAdA ExPlorATioN finds gold using groundwater chemistry by Ellsworth Dickson

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