To say that Northern Vertex Mining Corp.(TSX.V: NEE; OTC: HNVCF) -- northernvertex.com -- is on a fast track to prove up its U.S. gold-silver properties does not do justice to the impressive record this company has set in little more than a year.
Consider that in just the past seven months this company acquired two highly prospective properties, one in Arizona and the other in Idaho, both mining-friendly states. Northern Vertex then embarked on an aggressive drilling program that has clearly established an NI 43-101 compliant 590,400 ounce gold equivalent resource. And if that wasn’t enough, the company simultaneously began base line studies for an eventual pre-production feasibility report. Now a $7.7 million exploration program is planned at its new Idaho property.
“We have a strong team and we are certainly aggressive,” admits CEO Ken Berry. “We plan to continue to build our precious metal asset base by establishing confirmed ounces in the ground. Going forward our main objective is to become a near-term gold-silver producer.”
Substantial Gold-Silver Resource
Confirmed at Moss Gold-Silver Project
Northern Vertex’s 6,000-acre Moss Gold-Silver Project in northwestern Arizona is located within the historic Oatman Mining District, which historically produced over 2 million ounces of gold, mostly from high-grade underground operations. Sporadic high-grade mining on the Moss property occurred in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
Northern Vertex recently completed a 27,000-foot definition drilling program at its Moss property. Initial drill results included intersections grading as high as 6.9 gpt gold eqv. An independent engineering firm issued a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate based on 288 exploration drill holes, eight trenches and 53 channel samples.
That estimate, based on a 0.3 gram per ton cutoff, establishes an indicated resource of 483,792 gold equivalent ounces plus an additional 106,628 ounces gold eqv. in the inferred category.
Project Manager Joe Kircher, who has taken numerous mines to production, sees Moss as a maturing project that has all the ingredients to quickly evolve into a near-term gold-silver producer.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with the robust gold-silver results returned from the independent study,” says Moss Project Manager Joe Kircher. “This further validates Moss’s intrinsic potential as a substantial, near-term gold-silver producer. With this attractive resource foundation now in place, combined with an extensive metallurgical, geotechnical, environmental, hydrological and economic scoping database, the Moss Project is clearly ready for advanced development. ”
The 45-foot-thick Moss stockwork vein system so far has been traced along a strike length of over a mile. The outcropping orebody offers the potential for both low cost, near-term production and significant upside growth. Mineralization, hosted in low sulfidation epithermal veins, vein breccias and stockworks, is open to depth and along strike. Mineralogy and textures observed at surface and down to drilling depths of more than 700 feet demonstrate significant gold and silver deposition.
The company also is mapping and sampling extensions of the main Moss vein, as well as other vein structures and potential feeder systems. So far, gold-silver mineralization has been extended 1,135 feet west and on strike of the existing mineralized gold-silver structure.
A 25,000-foot drilling program currently underway is testing the Moss stockwork systems’ new western extension and upgrade current inferred resources to the indicated category. Previous sampling revealed evenly distributed gold and silver mineralization, suggesting the Moss property may host significant additional bulk tonnage potential west of the project’s known 5,000 foot stockwork old-silver vein structure.
Included in the Phase 2 program is infill drilling, continued scoping and baseline studies, and comprehensive metallurgical testing.
Meanwhile, the initial scoping level study will address environmental permitting, hydrogeology and engineering services as part of the permitting process for open pit mining. The plan will also include preliminary pit design for open-pit, heap-leach mining, permit acquisition costs and a schedule for future mine development and budgeting purposes.
$7.7 Million Exploration Planned
at Newly Acquired Lemhi Gold Project
Northern Vertex recently acquired the right to earn a 75.5% interest in four contiguous properties in Idaho. The Lemhi Gold Project is a strategic joint venture with the Idaho State Gold Company in which the companies plan to spend $9 million to confirm and expand historic mineral resources or reserves. Berry says there is a strong potential for an expanded resource along strike, at depth and along the margins of the known mineralized area.
The Lemhi property has a historical non-compliant 43-101 resource of 1.21 million contained ounces of gold and a 1996 pre-feasibility report.
As the operator, Northern Vertex is planning to begin a 30,000-foot drilling program to confirm the historic resource. Results from that program will be used to establish an NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate. The Company plans to use the same proven resource growth model that it successfully utilized on its Moss project to fast track its in-fill drill and resource development program on Lemhi.
Northern Vertex also holds an exploration project in British Columbia that offers future growth possibilities. The Copley Gold Project contains a large gold-bearing epithermal system. Initial drilling identified several large gold bearing structures that appear to mirror Richfield’s Blackwater discovery, which is located just 40 kilometers to the south. You can expect further results soon from a recent drill program conducted on the property.
Management Skilled in Advancing Projects
Northern Vertex’s ambitious trek toward becoming a mid-tier producer of gold and silver is buttressed by a management team noted for its technical and financial skills.
Over his more than 20 years of experience in corporate finance and communications, Northern Vertex CEO Ken Berry raised more than $275 million for public companies. In addition to Northern Vertex, Berry founded Theia Resources, Kootenay Gold and Highpoint Telecommunications. In the process, he says learned implementing key management personal is the recipe to quickly achieving company goals.
While Northern Vertex’s Chief Geologist Bob Thompson managed major multi-parameter geological programs for the Geological Survey of Canada he developed a deep reservoir of ideas about the relationships between geological structures and economic mineralized deposits. He is now utilizing those 37 years of experience to guide the Moss Gold-Silver Project through feasibility, permitting and development.
Joe Kircher, the company’s consulting mining engineer and project manager, brings yet another unique set of skills to Northern Vertex. He has over 25 years experience building and operating both open pit and underground mines in North America, working for such major mining companies as Kinross Gold, Consolidated Nevada Goldfields and Nevada Copper. While General Manager at Kinross, Kircher oversaw a portfolio of eight mines including the Candelaria, Sleeper, Haile, Delamar, Hayden Hill and the QR.
Investment Considerations
Northern Vertex is well-financed, most recently announcing a $12.65 million in a non-brokered private placement that will be used to advance additional acquisitions, development of its Lemhi Gold Project, as well continuing fast-track development of its flagship Moss Gold-Silver Project. The company is also moving to significantly broaden its exposure to the U.S. investment community and and recently obtained a listing on the OTCQX, the premier tier of the U.S. Over-the-Counter.
“The U.S. trading platform will be a positive adjunct to our TSX Listing and will enable us to better serve our growing number of U.S. investors,” Berry said.
One strong validator of Northern Vertex’s acquisition of its Moss Gold-Silver Project was the subsequent staking rush in the surrounding area – including adjacent claims staked by Silver Standard. Northern Vertex expanded its original land position, as well, to ensure that it controlled potential nearby stockwork vein systems. The expanded project includes recorded historical production as well as undrilled areas that have anomalous gold and silver at surface. With a near-surface resource, the project has the potential be in production within the next two years.
Berry believes the 43-101 gold-silver resource established so far on the Moss project is only the beginning.
“Having a large land package is certainly advantageous. Since these Moss-like epithermal systems occur at relatively shallow depths, there is the potential to discover additional nearby buried systems,” says Berry. “At the least, we believe Moss has the potential for an economic resource of leachable gold and silver in the order of one million ounces of gold equivalent.”
