Why Nevada?

Why Cortez Trend?

Total historical gold production in the state of Nevada through 2020 is approximately 248 million ounces. 89% of this total has been produced since the original Carlin Mine owned by Newmont Mining began production in 1965. Nevada’s production of 4.63 million ounces in 2020 accounted for 72% of total U.S. gold production and 4.1% of the world’s production with only China, Australia, Russia and Canada producing more gold. Nevada truly is “elephant country” when it comes to major gold deposits. Through 2020, cumulative gold production on the Carlin trend exceeded 93 million ounces (Special Publication MI-2020, The Nevada Mineral Industry, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology).

The Cortez Trend is a fast-growing gold district where the overall gold endowment (production/reserves/resources) exceeds 70 million ounces. District production in the Cortez Trend by Nevada Gold Mines (NGM, owned 61.5% Barrick Gold and 38.5% Newmont Mining) in 2021 totalled 828,000 oz gold. At year end 2019, Barrick reported that NGM’s Goldrush deposit contained an indicated resource of 6.6 M oz gold and 1.2 M oz gold inferred resource, attributable to Barrick’s 61.5% ownership of the total 12.7 million oz resource. NGM is currently developing Goldrush and anticipates a permitting Record of Decision in the first half of 2023 (Barrick Q2 2022 MD&A). Carlin’s Cortez Summit property has a common boundary with NGM and is within 1.1 km of the Goldrush deposit.

Barrick’s wholly owned Fourmile resource, located directly north of Goldrush and 0.9 Km directly west of Cortez Summit, contains 2.55 million oz Au grading 10.6 gpt (Barrick 2021 annual report). Barrick reports that exploration drilling carried out in early 2022 shows strong evidence that the mineralized system extends three kilometers north of the current Fourmile resource.

Nevada Gold Mines’ Long Canyon operation produced 261,000 ounces gold in 2021. The deposit occurs in a relatively new exploration terrain 90 miles (145 km) east of the Carlin trend of gold deposits, representing further demonstration that the large “Carlin-type” gold deposits are not confined to the established Carlin and Cortez trends. Carlin Gold’s Willow property (see section on this website) is in this new prospective region, approximately 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Long Canyon.