Sierra Nevada locks in New Pass Mine, eyes gold mining restart

Sierra Nevada Gold has secured full control over the New Pass mine in Nevada with the goal of restarting gold mining.

Restarting gold mining at New Pass is on the cards for Sierra Nevada Gold. Pic: Getty Images

• Sierra Nevada Gold (ASX:SNX) secures full control over the New Pass Mine in Nevada, USA after acquiring 12 key claims

• SNX is planning further exploration and will assess potential for trial mining operations

• Permitting work initiated as company plans to carry out drill testing to delineate vein below current workings

Special Report: Sierra Nevada Gold has acquired key claims that give it full control of the New Pass mine in Nevada, allowing it to carry out further exploration and assess potential for trial mining operations.

The company had previously leased claims at the mine from the family of Don Jung, the mining engineer and owner who had mined the project intermittently as a small-scale miner over 50 years until 2012, when SNX secured a lease.

Sierra Nevada Gold (ASX:SNX) has now acquired eight patented claims – analogous to private fee land – and four unpatented claims that extinguishes all net smelter royalties over the property.

With SNX also holding 176 Bureau of Land Management claims around the mine, this grants the company the opportunity to further exploration of New Pass and assess the potential for trial mining including bulk sampling of the two main producing veins, which will confirm grades of the ore bodies and establish an income flow.

“Purchasing the key claims covering the historic high-grade New Pass Mine is a very positive step for the company, providing SNX the opportunity to assess potential for re-establishing gold production from existing underground workings,” executive chairman Peter Moore said.

“Our preliminary work and detailed underground surveys in recent years have indicated that the mine has potential to re-open. The company looks forward to expediting its evaluation of New Pass over coming months.”

The company will pay US$250,000 – consisting of five annual payments of US$50,000 including one on execution of the agreement – to acquire the claims.

The New Pass mine and its surrounds. Pic: Sierra Nevada Gold

New Pass mine

The historical New Pass mining centre has a long and varied history dating back to its discovery in the 1860s.

It is prospective for vein-style gold deposits and jasperoid-hosted Carlin-style gold deposits within the NW-orientated Austin Trend, which is south of, and parallel to, the prolific Carlin and Battle Mountain Trends of central Nevada.

The New Pass mine produced gold intermittently at a reported average recovered grade of 17g/t gold from two parallel, steeply dipping north-south striking quartz veins: the eastern Superior Vein and the western Thomas W Vein – until 2012.

Significant infrastructure is present on site including a four-storey milling facility, five-stamp crushing battery, tails dams, stockpiles, mechanical mining equipment and workshops.

It is also well serviced by infrastructure as it is just 12km north of a sealed highway and 35km from the township of Austin.

High-tension power lines are located within 5km of the project and a geothermal electricity plant is located 20km from the project. Adequate water supply is provided by several wells on the property.

Since 2022, SNX has focused on both advancing the exploration potential of the mineral system and the projects amenability for near-term gold production.

Complementary datasets across the project indicate a large-scale and highly prospective structural, hydrothermal, and geochemical setting for the formation of vein gold deposits.

Listen: Sierra Nevada Gold high-grades it in the Silver State

Next steps

Recent work by SNX has focused on establishing baseline data to support planned bulk sampling programs aimed at reopening the mines for potential commercial production.

Geotechnical consultant Call & Nicholas Inc. has delivered a geotechnical report that provides basic geotechnical parameters, which will inform initial development planning, while a LiDAR survey of accessible workings will support optimal placement of drilling development.

The company has also completed programs of underground mapping and has previously reported numerous high-grade assays such as 20.1g/t and 16.95g/t gold from sampling of remnant ore exposed within the Superior Level 4 adit.

A confirmatory reverse circulation holes drilled to establish vein continuity down dip below the existing stoping and guide the proposed bulk sampling program on the Superior Vein returned a 1.22m hit grading 26.7g/t gold from a down-hole depth of 186.53m.

This hole intersected the Superior Vein down dip beneath level 4, representing an 80m down-dip depth extension of this high-grade gold structure.

Government permitting required to start operations have been initiated with the company expecting that all necessary permits will be in place within six months.

Once the permits are secured, the company plans to start development from the Superior Level 4 and establish up to five drill positions to carry out drill testing to delineate the vein directly below the current workings, where the proposed bulk sample is to be taken.

This article was developed in collaboration with Sierra Nevada Gold, 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 Sierra Nevada locks in New Pass Mine, eyes gold mining restart