 |
|
|
Allied Nevada Gold Corp., through the
acquisition from Vista of the F. W. Lewis Inc. properties,
owns wholly or in fractional interest 110 patented claims in
the Contact mining district in northeast Elko County,
Nevada. The Company also staked 307 unpatented claims
adjacent to the patented claims in early July, 2007. There
are no royalties associated with Allied’s ownership of both
the patented and unpatented mining claims.
The small settlement of Contact is located approximately 52
miles north of Wells, Nevada and 16 miles south of Jackpot,
Nevada. The mining district is immediately west of the town
of Contact and extends for several miles west and southwest
of town. The mining district, referred to as both the
Contact or Salmon River district, was discovered in the
early 1870's and was first worked for gold and silver.
However, copper was soon discovered and the vast majority of
the historic work in the district has been directed toward
the development and production of copper ores. Early work in
the district was hampered by the inaccessibility of the area
and the resultant high shipping costs for any ore produced.
The later construction of the railroad eliminated this
problem, but falling copper prices in the 1930's caused the
district to cease production. The district saw a renewed
period of activity in the l940's and early l950's, but
little true exploration work was done and most efforts were
directed toward mining already known ore deposits. More
recently, various companies have looked at the district for
precious metals in the 1980’s and 1990’s, and higher copper
and molybdenum prices have recently renewed interest in
those prospects.
Geology
The area is underlain by a granodiorite batholith and
related rocks of Mesozoic age which intruded a Late
Paleozoic sedimentary sequence of' shale and limestone.
Contact metamorphism and metasomatism produced skarns and
hornfels in the sediments up to a mile away from the contact
zone. High-grade precious and base metal mineralization
occurs along these contact metamorphic zones. The intrusion
of the porphyry and alaskite was apparently centered near
the North Contact Zone. This intrusion further
metamor¬phosed the sedimentary rocks and culminated in a
wave of copper mineralization that not only affected the
contact zones, but mineralized masses of porphyry and
alaskite.
Various companies, including Phelps Dodge Company in the
early 1970’s and Golden Phoenix in the early 1990’s and
their engineering and geological staffs, have estimated the
resources in the district and published historic resource
estimates. The resource estimates are based on drilling
primarily in and around the Banner Zone, the center of which
is located approximately one (1) mile west-northwest of
town. There has been recent drilling in the Zone by another
company, and Allied controls patented claims on the west and
east ends of the Banner Zone. Although Allied has not
conducted any drilling on the property, the Company’s
geologic staff is in the process of evaluating the potential
of the district and will review business opportunities that
might develop. |
|
