Fremont Gold Acquires Option on Gold Canyon Property in Eureka County Nevada
Vancouver, January 16, 2018 - Fremont Gold Ltd. (TSXV: FRE) (OTC Pink: USTDF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an option agreement with Ely Gold Royalties Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary Nevada Select Royalty, Inc. ("NSR" also the "Optionor"), to acquire the Gold Canyon Property (the "Property"), consisting of 26 unpatented lode mining claims covering approximately 460 acres situated in Eureka Country, Nevada. - Gold Canyon is part of the original Gold Bar mining complex operated by Atlas Precious Metals Inc. (“Atlas”) from 1986-94, with historic production of 41,000 oz from the Gold Canyon pit (out of a total 588,000 oz from the entire Gold Bar complex) 1.
- Located only 900m NW of McEwen Mining Inc.’s (“McEwen”) Gold Ridge ore body, part of McEwen’s new Gold Bar mine development – scheduled to produce 65,000 oz/annum for eight years starting in the first quarter of 20192.
- Gold Canyon along with the pits that make up McEwen’s new Gold Bar development were formerly satellite pits to the original Gold Bar mine, which lies 5kms SW and is controlled by Fremont.
- Mineralization at Gold Canyon is controlled by a northeast trending high angle feeder structure. Recent Nevada Select Royalty (“NSR”) rock chip sampling of this structure from the NE end of the pit returned values of up to 9.15 g/t Au3.
- The feeder structure can be traced to the northeast to the Northwest Gold Ridge target, also controlled by Fremont and identified by Atlas in a 1997 report1 (see figure below).
- Atlas drilled one hole just northeast of the Gold Canyon pit; Hole 100-45 returned 60 feet grading 0.112 oz/ton (18.3m @ 3.48 g/t Au)
Under the terms of the option agreement, the Company can earn a 100% interest in the Property by making payments totalling US$802,500 as follows: an initial payment of US$15,000, a US$37,500 payment in June 2018, a US$75,000 payment in December 2018, a US$112,500 payment in December 2019, a US$112,500 payment in December 2020, a US$150,000 payment in December 2021, and a final payment of US$300,000 in December 2022. The Company can accelerate the exercise of the option and acquire the Property at any time by making all payments.
The option will be subject to a 2% net smelter return royalty on the Property and a 1% net smelter royalty on any acquired or staked additional claims located within the area of interest in favour of the Optionor. The Company will have an option to purchase 1% of the 2% net smelter royalty on the Property by paying to the Optionor $3,000,000.
Property Background
Gold Canyon is located in the Gold Bar District in the southern Roberts Mountains, a well-known precious metals mining area in the southern portion of the Battle Mountain-Eureka trend comprising a 200km long, N-NW trending structural zone. The claims are on BLM ground and include the original Gold Canyon pit as well as a stockpile west of the pit.
The Gold Canyon project is completely surrounded by claims owned by McEwen Mining Inc. ("McEwen") that comprise their Gold Bar Mine development project. In November 2017 McEwen received the final environmental permit to begin building the mine and plant which is scheduled to produce 65,000 oz/annum for eight years from four open pits: Gold Pick; Gold Ridge; and two pits at Cabin Creek starting in the first quarter of 2019.
The Gold Canyon pit is located only 900 meters northwest of McEwen's Gold Ridge ore body and is part of the same mineralized system as shown in the image below. The four McEwen pits, along with the Gold Canyon pit, were originally operated by Atlas from the late 1980s to early 1990s and were in fact secondary satellite pits to Atlas' original Gold Bar mine, located 5 kms to the southwest of McEwen's development project. This historic mine which produced 289,354 oz Au from 1986-94 is also controlled by Fremont (see Fremont press release dated September 12, 2017 and figure below).
Figure 1: Gold Canyon claims (yellow) and targets in relation to McEwen Mining's Gold Bar project (red)
To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:
http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3169/32030_a1516072552094_73.jpg
2016 Nevada Select Royalty Work Program
A sampling program was conducted at Gold Canyon by Nevada Select Royalty ("NSR") in May 2016. The purpose of the program was to test mineralization left in the Gold Canyon pit, sample the high grade feeder structure and determine cyanide solubility of the Gold Canyon material. In total, forty-eight samples were collected and assayed. Forty samples were collected from two benches in the bottom of the Gold Canyon pit. These were cuttings from blast holes that were never loaded when Atlas ceased operations. All forty samples were mineralized, and at a 0.15 g/t Au cutoff, thirty-three of the forty samples returned an average grade of 0.42 g/t Au. The gold grades seen in this sampling could be within minable grade for a heap leach operation. It also appears that the majority of the samples had no adverse metallurgical problems indicated by the CN assays. Most of the samples showed a CN soluble rate of over 70% of the fire assay gold value, with many over 90%3.
In addition, three rock chip samples were collected from the high angle feeder structure at the northeast end of the pit. The three samples ran 0.37, 1.56 and 9.15 g/t Au. This mineralized zone clearly trends to the NE out of the pit and is most likely the mineralized structure intersected in historical Atlas drill hole 100-45 which returned 60 feet grading 0.112 oz/ton Au (18.3m@ 3.48 g/t Au).
CEO of Fremont, Dennis Moore, stated: The Gold Canyon acquisition along with our historic Gold Bar project puts Fremont in a particularly strategic position within the Gold Bar District going forward. There is significant potential to discover additional and new gold mineralization at both Gold Canyon and at Gold Bar. We have applied for, and expect to receive drill permits within the next four to six weeks, and weather permitting, we will be drilling shortly thereafter.
Dennis Moore, the Company's CEO and President, and a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release.
About Fremont Gold Ltd.
Fremont holds exclusive leasing rights to the Hurricane project in Lander County and the Gold Bar and Gold Canyon Projects in Eureka County, Nevada. Fremont also owns the Goldrun Project, in the Adelaide mining district, in Humboldt County, Nevada. The Company's strategy is to conduct exploration on its existing projects and to build a quality portfolio of gold projects in Nevada using the collective exploration expertise of the new management team. Further information regarding the Hurricane Project and Goldrun Project are described in the filing statement of the Company dated May 29, 2017, available at www.sedar.com.
1 Atlas Corporation, Gold Bar Review, January 1997
2 McEwen Mining Inc. website: www.mcewenmining.com
3 Ely Gold Royalties Inc. fact sheet and internal report
On Behalf of the Board of Directors,
Fremont Gold Ltd.
"Dennis Moore"
Dennis Moore
President and Chief Executive Officer
Telephone: (778) 772-9892
Email: dennis@fremontgold.net
For further information, please contact:
"Dennis Moore"
President & Chief Executive Officer
Fremont Gold Ltd.
#1500 — 409 Granville Street, Vancouver
Telephone: (778) 772-9892
Telephone: +351-9250-62196
Email: dennis@fremontgold.net
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange, not its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This news release may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under the applicable laws.