Nevada – Not All Ounces Are Created Equal

Without doubt the State of Nevada is world famous when it comes to gold mining thanks to structures like the Carlin Trend and Walker Lane. But not all gold ounces in the ground in Nevada are created equal. Ireland Inc. is a Nevada based corporation that is about to demonstrate this notion with its geologically unique Columbus Project. Resource sector investors should take note.

The Columbia Project is located over top of the Columbus Salt Marsh in Esmeralda County near Tonopah (between Las Vegas and Reno). This marsh is essentially a big basin filled with mineralized sediments. The surrounding mountains have a well documented history of precious metal mining dating back to the 1800's. The project consists of 19,000 acres of placer mining claims, 60 acres of mill site claims, an approved plan of operations to mine on 380 of these acres, a 15,000 sq. foot processing plant as well as water rights. The mining permit allows for mining up to 25 feet in depth and processing of up to 78,000 tons per year and the production of calcium carbonate and precious metals.

Very Intriguing Results to Date

A surface sampling program in 2007 led Ireland Inc. to determine that a gold anomaly covers about 5000 acres of its claims. In late 2007, Ireland Inc. completed an 18 hole drill program over just the 380 acre permitted acres in which holes were drilled to a maximum depth of 100 feet. Samples were taken every 2 feet for assay analysis. In all, 154 individual samples were taken for analysis. Results show that gold mineralization is finely disseminated in a clay structure that also is rich in calcium carbonate. The average gold assay grade on these samples worked out to 0.074 ounces gold per ton. The data was remarkably tightly distributed with the average of the 18 holes working out to 0.07 ounces gold per ton. Previous work on this property by SRK Consulting, focused on the calcium carbonate and concluded that over the 380 acres of permitted area, there is 8.8 million tons of sedimentary clays in the uppermost 25 feet. Doing some simple math using 0.07 ounces gold per ton suggests this upper strata could contain just over 600,000 ounces of finely disseminated gold in-situ. A wider reaching drill program is planned for the next few months that will cover the balance of the 5000 acre anomaly. And then there is the market for the calcium carbonate. One major market for calcium carbonate is in the production of cement. Other applications are found in the steel industry, oil industry drilling fluids, paints, as a filler material in plastics, adhesives and sealants and as a whitener in papers.

Financing Done – Pilot Scale Testing to Start – Watch Closely

Ireland Inc. recently completed a $13 million financing and is now moving towards pre-feasibility testing to prove that its planned extraction methodology is viable.

At The Market Traders, we are intrigued with what Ireland has at its Columbus project. We shall be watching the pilot plant developments very closely. As news develops, we shall be updating this Trading Note accordingly. Stay tuned.

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