The Atlanta Gold Mine is a past-producing, open-pit gold mine, located 264km northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Discovered in the late 19th century and was the site of underground and small-scale surface mining (1905-1966).
Open pit production (1975-1985) recovered 110,000 oz Au and 800,000 oz Ag from 1.5M tons.
Over 40,000m of drilling was conducted by Gold Fields, Kinross, and Meadow Bay starting in the 1990s.
Nevada King purchased 100% of the Atlanta Gold Mine Project in 2018 and began exploratory drilling in 2021.
Infrastructure & Permitting
Deeded 15-mile electrical power line is operational to the site with private substation.
Private water well delivers ample water to project.
Modular crew quarters on-site for exploration and pre-development activity, as well as a core shack and geology office.
Historical Atlanta Pit located on private (patented) ground; remaining project area covered by a BLM-approved Plan of Operations.
Pit-constrained, Oxide Resource
$1,250/ounce gold price
Current NI 43-101 compliant gold resource by Gustavson (2020) using a 0.35 g/t cut-off and $1250/ounce gold price.
Atlanta Mineralised Zone, showing blocks above 0.35g/t Au, in both Si Breccia Zone (red) and Porphyry Zone (blue). Looking East.
|
Resource Category |
Tonnes |
Au Grade (ppm) |
Contained Au Oz |
Ag Grade (ppm) |
Contained Ag Oz |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measured | 4,130,000 | 1.51 | 200,000 | 14.0 | 1,860,000 |
| Indicated | 6,910,000 | 1.17 | 260,000 | 10.6 | 2,360,000 |
|
Measured + Indicated |
11,000,000 | 1.30 | 460,000 | 11.9 | 4,220,000 |
| Inferred | 5,310,000 | 0.83 | 142,000 | 7.3 | 1,240,000 |
Calculations taken from Gustavson's 2020 NI-43101 Atlanta Mine Report
Atlanta Discovery Timeline
History
Gold and silver were discovered at Atlanta in the late 19th century, and the site was used for underground and small-scale surface mining from 1905 to 1966. Open-pit production began in 1975, recovering 110,000 oz of gold and 800,000 oz of silver from 1.5 million tons of ore. Mining ceased at Atlanta in 1985. Since then, over 40,000 meters of drilling have been conducted by Gold Fields, Kinross Gold, and Meadow Bay Gold, starting in the 1990s.
Nevada King purchased 100% of the Atlanta Gold Mine project in 2018 and began exploratory drilling. Phase I drilling in 2021 identified previously unrecognized high-grade gold at the bottom of the Atlanta pit, as well as high-grade gold 560 meters north of the pit. This demonstrated a larger footprint of high-grade gold than previously recognized at Atlanta and paved the way for a new geological interpretation.
Nevada King launched a Phase II drill program (2022-2024) that included 75,000m of drilling, with a focus on expanding mineralization in all directions and to depth. This program identified a network of faults and cross-cutting faults that are responsible channeling high-grade mineralization up and into mineralized horizons. The Company intercepted high-grade gold mineralization throughout the resource zone and well outside of it. Gold mineralization is found in thick beds that can exceed 150m in true thickness. A list of highlight intervals from Phase II are shown below.
Highlight Intervals
The Phase II drill program consisted of ~400 drill holes. Below are 10 of the most significant intercepts.
Geology & Mineralization
A Supervolcano Setting
- Atlanta is located within the Indian Peak-Caliente caldera complex, one of the world’s largest supervolcanoes.
- It is not active today, but 30 million years ago more than 5,500km3 of magma erupted during a one-week period near a place called Wah Wah Springs.
- The complex hosts 15 super-eruptions and 20 calderas, including Atlanta, but subsequent faulting and erosion largely erased this feature from the landscape.
- It is in this geologic setting that gold mineralization occurs at Atlanta.
The Atlanta District
- Gold mineralization at Atlanta is found along the rim of the 6km wide Atlanta resurgent caldera.
- The Atlanta open pit and resource zone are located on the eastern margin of the caldera along a complex series of mineralizing faults. Gold mineralization occurs within and adjacent to felsic intrusive rocks.
- The best analogue for Atlanta is Round Mountain in Nevada, where 23.6moz Au have been discovered so far. Both are associated with major volcanic events and gold exists along the periphery of a collapsed caldera system that was previously covered by alluvium and volcanic sediments having a similar age of mineralization (see Appendix for more details).
Phase III - District-Scale Exploration
- Nevada King launched a Phase III regional exploration program with the goal of finding satellite deposits throughout the district.
- The Company is relying on powerful geophysical surveys and its deep understanding of the geology of Atlanta to unlock its potential.
- Targets generally occur where major basement structures coincide with low resistivity zones that are apparent in the geophysics and may represent intrusive, mineralizing activity.
Favorable Metallurgy at Atlanta
- Phase I metallurgical testwork supports strong recoveries using conventional Nevada oxide processing methods. Testing utilized three surface bulk samples and 19 composites from drill core, representing the full range of rock types and gold and silver grades encountered across Atlanta.
- Silicified breccias are amenable to conventional milling for high-grade material and High-Pressure Grinding Roll (HPGR) crushing followed by heap leaching for lower-grade material.
- Volcanics are also amenable to conventional milling for high-grade material, and conventional crushing or Run-of-Mine (ROM) heap leaching for lower-grade material.
- Milling – Gold extraction from fine milling at a 200-mesh grind (P80 = 75 μm) shows a weighted average extraction of 91.7% for gold hosted in volcanics and 85.9% for the high-grade silica breccias.
- Heap Leach – Gold extraction from conventional crushing (P80 = 12.5 mm) shows a weighted average extraction of 87.1% for gold hosted in volcanics. Gold extraction from HPGR-crushed composites (using medium press force) shows a weighted average extraction of 71.4% from low-grade silica breccias.
- Phase II metallurgy is ongoing, with an expected completion date in Q2 2025.
The Hallmarks of a Large Gold System
