NewCastle Gold Ltd. (CVE:NCA) stock continued to advance after the company reported additional assay results from the company’s ongoing 22,000 metre drill campaign at its Castle Mountain oxide gold project located in San Bernardino County, California.
By the close on Thursday the small-cap changed hands at $1.22 a share on the venture section of the Toronto Stock Exchange with a higher than usual one million shares changing affording the company a market worth $194 million. Vancouver-based NewCastle stock is up an astonishing four-fold in value this year.
In a statement the company said the program continues to target the strike and depth extensions to the main mineral resource along the Oro Belle Trend. The OBT is one kilometre wide by two kilometres long and remains open to the northeast and at depth
The company highlighted assays from seven additional RC holes at the BC Target from Oro Belle South:
President and CEO Gerald Panneton who joined said “the presence of high-grade gold mineralization 100 metres below the currently modeled pit will have a positive impact in the follow-up drill program planned for our pre-feasibility study, which will focus on the southern part of the OBT. The current program is indicative of the excellent potential to improve the grade and continuity, and also to increase the resource potential near the current pit limits for future planning.”
Panneton, a geologist with over 30 years in mineral exploration and development joined Newcastle last month. Panneton was the founder of Detour Gold and under his leadership, the Detour Lake Project grew from 1.5 million ounces in resources to over 16 million ounces in reserves and into production in less than 6 years after its acquisition. The Detour Lake Mine now ranks as the largest gold mine in Canada.
Castle Mountain is a heap leach gold mine that produced over one million ounces of gold from 1992 to 2001 and is located 120km south of Las Vegas. According to NewCastle the mining plan for 9 million tonnes of ore per year is in good standing until 2025.
An NI 43-101 resource for the project released in December last year includes Measured Mineral Resources of 17.4 million tonnes grading 0.86 g/t gold containing 0.48 million gold ounces, Indicated Mineral Resources of 202.5 million tonnes grading 0.57 g/t gold containing 3.71 million gold ounces along with Inferred Mineral Resources of 40.8 million tonnes grading 0.58 g/t gold containing 0.76 million gold ounces.