Phenom Resources’ new drill results at its Carlin asset showed features of a Carlin-type system, but the grades were low, a Red Cloud Securities report noted.
Drill results from Phenom Resources Corp.’s (PHNM:TSX.V; PHNMF:OTCQX; 1PY:FSE) flagship Carlin gold-vanadium project showed “the presence of a large hydrothermal system with characteristics of a Carlin-type deposit, [but] the resulting gold grades are well below levels of economic interest,” reported Timothy Lee, Red Cloud Securities analyst, in a Nov. 24 research note.
“While there still may be targets to vector in on at Carlin, we might also expect Phenom to shift more focus to other projects in its portfolio,” added Lee.
One of those assets is the Smoke project, also in Nevada, on which Phenom recently acquired an option to earn full interest in it. One historical Smoke drill hole returned 80 parts per billion of gold over 80 feet. Phenom’s drill plan for Smoke includes five to seven reverse circulation (RC) holes over about 1,100 meters (1,100m).
Lee reviewed the new Carlin drill results, from eight widely spaced RC drill holes targeting an induced polarization anomaly below the vanadium resource. Seven of the holes were drilled in the property’s main, southern area. The eighth was placed in the recently optioned Section 22 property to the north.
The mineralized intervals encountered were wide, between 384m and 677m, Lee indicated. They showed elevated sulphides, brecciation/veining, silicification, dolomite alteration and elevated arsenic and mercury. All of these features are typical of a Carlin-type gold system.
As for the single hole drilled in Section 22, it confirmed the hydrothermal system continues to the north about one mile.
The gold grades encountered in this batch of eight holes, on the other hand, were low, between 8 and 28 parts per billion. All were below the previously encountered 0.028 grams per ton gold.
“Management noted that Carlin-type systems often contain higher-grade feeder zones surrounded by large low-grade halos, and that the results thus far appear to vector towards a north-to-south graben fault,” Lee noted.
With this new information, Phenom has identified new targets to drill.
“The vendor is a private company exclusively owned by Phenom’s lead geological advisor, Dave Mathewson, who is currently leading the company’s ongoing exploration efforts in Nevada,” Lee pointed out.
Red Cloud has a Buy rating and a CA$0.90 per share price target on Phenom, the current share price of which is around CA$0.40.
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