True width remains uncertain — Unusually rich core for Cons.

Toronto-listed Consolidated Nevada Goldfields has reported a spectacular intercept of high-grade gold from its Nixon Fork deposit in west-central Alaska.

Hole 93-22 intercepted 29.3 ft. grading 16.34 oz. gold per ton, which represents the discovery of a significant new zone, the company says. High-grade results were reported for two other holes, which are believed to have extended the zone by as much as 150 ft. along strike. Hole 93-8 returned six feet of 0.642 oz. gold and five feet of 1.534 oz. gold per ton, while Hole 93-09 returned five feet of 1.9 oz. gold.

The project, east of McGrath, is known for its high-grade gold values and contains a proven and probable resource of 106,000 tons grading 1.43 oz. gold per ton within two narrow ore shoots. A major mining company did most of the previous work on the property, drilling 86 reverse circulation holes totaling 24,013 ft. (to an average depth of 279 ft.)

Back in August of 1989, a junior company (then trading on the Vancouver Stock Exchange) optioned the project and began drilling. The first hole by Palomar Capital returned an impressive 38 ft. grading 1.043 oz. gold per ton. Palomar (and its then-joint-venture partner Caithness Gold Mining) had high hopes for Nixon Fork, which, at the time, it considered to be its most advanced project. But those plans came to naught and little was heard of the project until it was acquired by Consolidated Nevada several months ago. The company acquired 71% of the project for US$6.5 million (consisting of 10.4 million shares at 62 cents each) from the Nixon Fork joint venture. The vendors retained a 3% net smelter return.

Nevada Goldfields’ newly appointed president, Geoffrey Hoyl, was formerly president of Central Alaska Gold (operator of the Nixon Fork project) and a director of Palomar Capital. (Palomar became Central Alaska Gold after it was taken private.)

Nevada Goldfields acquired the remaining 29% from a major company for $500,000, plus the same amount payable from production revenues. More assay results are expected shortly from this season’s 10,000-ft. program. A cutoff grade of 0.3 oz. gold was used on the low end, but no cutoff was used on the high end. Asked if the high-grade values reflect “nugget effect,” Hoyl said “this might be,” which is why a high-end cutoff will likely be imposed on this intercept.

Hoyl also said the company does not yet have enough data to calculate the true width of the mineralized intercept. As the hole was the last of the season, this won’t be known until next year’s program.

Assaying was done by Chemex in Vancouver, using the metallic-screen fire assay method. The assays have been checked by Chemex and will be rechecked by an independent umpire. Nevada Goldfields describes the new zone as a mixture of skarn and endoskarn which extends into a quartz monzonite intrusion.