Resource World Magazine

32 www.resourceworld.com A P R I L / M A Y 2 0 1 6 MININg Well-funded Gold standard Ventures steps up exploration Over the last several years, to endure the extended slump in the resources sector, many junior explorers have been locked down in survival mode. Not so for Gold standard Ventures Corp. [GSV-TSXV; NYSE MKT]. The company has just com- pleted two large financing transactions to raise nearly $30 million in February, closing placements with Goldcorp Inc. [G-TSX; GG-NYSE] and OceanaGold Corp. [OGC-TSX, ASX, NZX]. To have significant ownership from established players in the gold mining sector represents a serious validation of the company and its projects, and Gold Standard Ventures has emerged as a formidable participant itself as it now looks ahead to an ambitious strategy. Gold Standard has chosen Nevada as its core operating area and for a gold-focused company that state is an ideal jurisdiction. Nevada is by far the largest gold producer in the United States, and much of that gold output comes from a highly prospec- tive geological feature known as the Carlin Trend. Many of the largest and most profit- able mines in Nevada are clustered within this district, often referred to as Elephant Country given the size and scale of mines in the area. The company has control of a large land position in the Carlin Trend with its 100%-owned Railroad-Pinion Project in Elko County, northeast Nevada. Spanning approximately 115 km 2 , the project has been carefully assembled from numerous smaller property holdings to secure own- ership of mineral and water rights. This represents the second largest property area in the district, and affords the company the luxury of pursuing a systematic explo- ration strategy to test the many attractive targets within the project boundary. Several gold deposits have already been established at Railroad-Pinion, including two with NI 43-101 compliant resources. The Pinion deposit amounts to 433,000 ounces of gold in the indicated category plus a further 1,022,000 ounces of gold inferred. The Dark Star deposit, just 2 km to the east, has an inferred resource of 375,000 ounces of gold. The North Bullion and Bald Mountain deposits are awaiting additional exploration work before prepar- ing a resource estimate. Significant upside potential for expan- sion exists for each of these deposits, including a very significant new discovery zone at Dark Star. Distinct gold showings and promising untested zones of altera- tion have been observed elsewhere on the project are worthy of a thorough, prop- erty-wide exploration program. For a company that depends on explora- tion success to build value, the strength of its technical team is a clear asset, compris- ing numerous highly respected geologists with extensive backgrounds of explora- tion and mine discovery in Nevada and elsewhere. This is a team uniquely able to evaluate the geologic setting and to cor- rectly interpret the project's potential in the early stages. Besides having an excellent exploration asset in a renowned mining district, the company has a strong balance sheet and roughly $38 million in cash, Gold Standard is in position to commence a meaningful drill program and move the project further along the value curve. The company plans to step up its exploration activity with the objective of outlining several large, economically attractive gold deposits that when developed will sustain a significant mining operation. Gold Standard Ventures will reveal its 2016 program budget and targets shortly; however, the objective is to advance with aggressive exploration programs at Railroad-Pinson to update and increase its resource estimate, and move towards commencing a Pre-Feasibility Study for potential development of a gold mine. There is a lack of consensus among the analyst community regarding the near term direction for the gold market, but one thing is clear. This year represents an excellent time to be active on the explora- tion side of the business because property holdings are available for consolidation, and overall costs are much lower than they are during boom times. The time frame to advance through to mine development can stretch to several years even for an advanced project, and therefore Gold Standard Ventures has chosen to launch drill programs targeting several promising areas of the project concurrently, in order to build the magnitude of its resource leverage quickly and efficiently. n Drilling underway at the Dark Star deposit in the Carlin Trend of northeast Nevada in 2015. Photo courtesy Gold Standard Ventures Corp.

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