James Bay doubles down on gold with Independence expansion

James Bay Minerals has strengthened its gold play in Nevada by adding an additional 66 claims adjacent to its existing landholding.

The new claims open the door to bigger mining and processing plans at the Independence gold project. Pic: Getty Images

Special Report: James Bay Minerals has expanded the scale of its Independence gold project in Lander County, Nevada following a land grab of 66 new claims, adding 1206 acres (4.88km) next to its current land package. 

• James Bay secures new claims next to the Independence gold asset 
• The claims cover highly prospective geology and 2.2km of untested trends 
• Drilling is ongoing and metallurgical testwork will begin shortly 

The additional ‘Modoc’ claims support expanded mining and processing scenarios for future development and cover highly prospective geology, including the same stratigraphy as the nearby Buffalo Valley silver-gold-copper mine, owned by SSR Mining. 

It also features 2.2km of untested trends analogous with the Rebel Trend, which is situated outside the 1.4Moz gold equivalent near-surface resource. 

James Bay Minerals (ASX:JBY) considers the Rebel Trend to be a significant target for resource growth, both due to the scale of the trend and the apparent higher-grade nature of mineralisation. 

Lander County is in Nevada’s Battle Mountain region, a highly sought-after location for mineral hunting with strong demand for gold, silver and copper exploration. 

The area hosts some of the world’s richest deposits, including those of the Carlin type, and has produced more than 60Moz of gold with 150Moz of in-ground resources. 

Entering next growth phase 

JBY executive director Matthew Hayes said the company is now moving swiftly to the next phase of growth at the project. 

“With drilling at Rebel Peak underway, the Company has secured additional claims to support future expanded exploration and development studies,” he said. 

“Positioned near the Buffalo Valley mine and underpinned by the same host rocks, the area also offers significant upside for future gold, silver, and copper discoveries in a Tier-1 jurisdiction.” 

What else is happening? 

Staking of the ‘Modoc’ claims, directly west of the Independence project, has provided JBY with flexibility for millsite planning to be investigated in a future scoping study down the track. 

Drilling has kicked off at the site with a 4,000m RC drill program targeting extensions to the current resource, following up on the promising initial result at Rebel Peak which returned 18.3m at 1g/t gold from 36.6m, including 3.1m at 2.7g/t gold. 

The selection of drillcore from existing drillholes has started. 

JBY aims to evaluate the potential for enhancing gold recovery to improve the economic viability of both the epithermal and skarn resources. 

Results of this metallurgical work will be incorporated into future project development feasibility assessments. 

Watch: Discovering more gold in Nevada

This article was developed in collaboration with James Bay Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

Originally published as James Bay doubles down on gold with Independence expansion