Mohave bids with Homestake for Nelson land position

Calgary-based Mohave Gold (ASE) recently poured the first 7-lb gold/silver dore bar from a tailings project at Eldorado Canyon mine in Nevada where the company is bidding against Homestake Mining for a major land position.

The gold was extracted from about 225,000 tons of tailings (grading about 0.03 oz gold per ton) which is scheduled to produce a second dore bar this week.

Pending successful negotiations, Mohave will issue shares to Colorado-based Eldorado Mining which is attempting to acquire rights to an additional 800,000 tons of dump material from a number of different groups.

Located in southern Nevada’s Nelson mining camp, the project is being operated with three shifts round the clock while Mohave tries to buy the equipment necessary to increase production to 1,000 tons per day.

While the company has about 10,000 to 15,000 tons of material on the leach pad, Chairman Dan Gallagher said he is still uncertain as to how high gold recoveries will be.

Mohave’s recent purchase of the nearby Rand claims has established the company as a significant presence in the Nelson camp with rights to 240 acres.

But the company is bidding against a formidable opponent in Homestake Mining of San Francisco to gain a larger position in an area that witnessed one of the biggest mining booms in Nevada history.

According to Gallagher, the Rand claims contain a number of former gold producers (including the Techatticup and Wall Street mines) and adjoin the Homestake Mining exploration and drilling program on the Wall Street claims.

He said the Rand claims include proven reserves of broken ore and tailings stockpiled on surface and underground reserves with developed access.

President Robin Pearson says he has commissioned an independent engineer to evaluate the grade and tonnage of the reserves and submit a report recommending an exploration drilling development and production program.

The company is also involved in negotiations to buy a number of additional mining claims in the Nelson District. “Many of them contain ore reserve,” Pearson said.