Vernal Gold Project
43-101 Technical Report on the Vernal Project
A National Instrument 43-101 technical report was carried out in the summer of 2017. It is an independent review and evaluation of the geology and mineralization of the Vernal project, including all exploration work carried out to date.
Description and Location of the Vernal Property
The property (shown here and here) is located approximately 140 miles east-southeast of Reno, Nevada on the west side of the Shoshone Mountains. The property consists of 12 unpatented mining claims (240 acres).
Recent Regional Activity
Nearby exploration projects include the Bruner project (Canamex Resources) approximately 10 miles to the east, the Buffalo Canyon project (Renaissance Gold) approximately 12 miles to the south, and the Baxter project (Bravada Gold) approximately 20 miles to the northeast.
Exploration History of the Vernal Property
Historical work includes several short adits constructed on the property between 1907 and 1916. There appears to have been little or no mineral production.
Geology of the Vernal Mineral Claims
The Vernal Property is underlain by a thick sequence of Tertiary age rhyolitic volcanic rocks including tuffs, flows and intrusives. A volcanic center is thought to underlie the district, with an intruding rhyolite plug dome (a domal feature formed by the extrusion of viscous quartz-rich volcanic rocks) thought to be closely related to mineralization encountered by the geologists of Amselco, the U.S. subsidiary of a British company, who explored the Vernal Property back in the 1980's, and who in 1983 mapped, sampled and drilled the Vernal Property. Amelsco has not been involved with the Vernal Property over the last 20 years and is not associated with Patriot's option on the property or the exploration work it is doing there. A 225 foot wide zone of outcropping quartz stockworks (a multi-directional quartz veinlet) and larger veining trends exists northeast from the northern margin of the plug. The veining consists of chalcedony containing 1-5% pyrite, and has assayed as high as 0.46 oz/ton (15.7 g/t) gold. Clay alteration of the host volcanics is strong. Northwest trending veins are also present. Both directions carry gold values. Scattered vein float is found over the plug. The most significant gold values in rock chips come from veining in tuffaceous rocks north of the nearly east-west contact of the plug. Sampling of old dumps and pits show an open-ended gold anomaly that measures 630 feet by 450 feet within which assays up to 0.44 oz/ton gold are found.
Geological Exploration Program
The Vernal property contains an untested high grade vein and surrounding sheeted vein target. This style of vein mineralization appears to closely resemble the Paradise Peak Mine located only 20 miles to the southwest where 1.6 million ounces of gold has been produced.
Our exploration of the Vernal Property to date has consisted of geologic mapping and rock chip geochemical sampling. The recent work program included permitting with the United States Forest Service to open, map and sample an adit near the range front fault and complete two trenches across the same fault zone. This work has enhanced the company's knowledge of the complex faulting in the area and indicated significant alteration with anomalous gold mineralization exists within the range front fault.
Results of the trenching and adit mapping and sampling have been digitized within a GIS program. (View the results)
