Seabridge Gold has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the Goldstorm Project in northern Nevada from Mountain View Gold for 25,000 Seabridge common shares.

gold2

Image: A gold mineral. Photo: courtesy of carlos aguilar/Freeimages.com.

Closing of the transaction is subject to the usual terms and conditions and the approval of the applicable stock exchanges.

The Goldstorm property consists of 134 mining claims and 1,160 leased acres (totaling approximately 3,900 acres or 15.9km2) located about 3km to the east of Seabridge’s 100%-owned Snowstorm Property. Snowstorm’s 80.3km2 of land holdings are strategically located at the projected intersection of three of the most important gold trends in Northern Nevada: the Carlin Trend, the Getchell Trend and the Northern Nevada Rift Zone. Snowstorm is contiguous, and on strike, with several large, successful gold producers including Getchell/Turquoise Ridge and Twin Creeks in the Barrick-Newmont Nevada Joint Venture and Hecla Mining’s’ Midas operations.

Goldstorm is in the Northern Nevada Rift (NNR), a geologic feature hosting many high grade gold-silver mines.  This mineral trend is a discrete 5 to 30km wide linear magnetic high which trends 340o for more than 500km.  The NNR is characterized by mafic and felsic volcanic centers associated with crustal extensions between 15.0 and 16.5 million years old.

Deposits in the NNR are low-sulfidation high grade epithermal deposits with elevated gold:silver ratios, generally containing around 1.0 to 5.0 million ounces of gold. Examples of such deposits in Nevada include Midas, Hollister and Fire Creek. Vein-filled faults are a common style of ore host, typically containing bonanza grade gold and silver. Gold and silver deposition in these veins can reach 500 meters of vertical extent.

Goldstorm has had limited exploration to date. Previous operators identified a series of northwest trending veins that showed strong pathfinder geochemistry and highly anomalous gold results. A surface trench on one of these veins yielded 3.0 meters of 9.0 g/T gold and 44.0 g/T silver. Mountain View’s limited drill testing of this vein returned promising grades including an intersection of 2.0 meters assaying 5.50 g/T gold of which 1.0 meter graded 9.29 g/T gold and 73g/T silver.

Seabridge Chairman and CEO Rudi Fronk noted that the Goldstorm acquisition provides potentially valuable targets of its own as well as insights into the Northern Nevada Rift targets on the east side of the Snowstorm property. “Snowstorm is a very valuable exploration asset for us and it will be a primary focus for our exploration team this year, including our first drill program on the project expected to begin later this summer. In preparation, we have staked additional claims where available. The Goldstorm purchase fits our strategy of expanding our footprint in these highly prospective gold trends where we intend to be a significant player.”

Source: Company Press Release