Exploration company American Pacific Mining has received final permits to start a drill programme at the past-producing Gooseberry silver project, in Nevada.
With final drill permits in hand, a 15-hole combination reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drill programme is expected to start later this year.
Gooseberry is a low sulphidation, epithermal vein system encompassing the historical Gooseberry silver/gold mine in Storey county. The past-producing underground silver and gold mine operated for nearly a century between 1900 and 1990, after which mining ceased owing to low precious metals prices. No meaningful modern exploration work has been done on the project since 1994.
American Pacific has an undivided 100% interest with no underlying royalties and previously sampled up to 18.45 g/t gold and 595 g/t silver from the dumps and old mineralised stockpiles at Gooseberry.
"We are very pleased to receive our drilling permit in advance of a 15-hole combination RC and diamond core drill programme totaling approximately 4 000 m," stated president Eric Saderholm.
"These holes will target lateral and down-dip extensions to some of the higher-grade mineralisation that was encountered during mining. American Pacific has always been very eager to drill Gooseberry, which produced very high-grade silver and gold from active mining faces. The initial phase of drilling will target extensions to these known mineralised zones."
Further, American Pacific announced the resignation of Norm Wareham, who has served as a member of its board of directors since January 25, 2018.