(MENAFN- GlobeNewsWire - Nasdaq) VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 24, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gold Bull Resources Corp. (TSX-V: GBRC) (“ Gold Bull ” or the“ Company ”) is pleased to report the success of its field spectrometer analysis at Sandman, located near Winnemucca in Nevada, USA. The Company has validated that the field spectrometer has identified buddingtonite at the Sandman property in association with known gold mineralization. This confirms the suitability of using a field spectrometer to assist in detecting alteration minerals that may have a close proximity to gold mineralization.
Buddingtonite detected at Abel Knoll, Silica Ridge, and North Hill deposits in association with gold mineralization confirming similar mineralogical association of buddingtonite with gold at Sandman to the along strike Sleeper deposit.
Buddingtonite was detected from 11m to 222m downhole in the Abel Knoll diatreme breccia.
Moving forward, spectral analysis will be an excellent tool for testing nearology to potential gold mineralization.
Additional exploration, utilizing the field spectrometer for new targeting is ongoing.
Buddingtonite is an ammonium feldspar mineral that is directly associated with the high-grade gold (& silver) veins at the Sleeper Gold deposit. The Sleeper deposit is located 23kms north of Sandman and yielded circa 2Moz of gold and 2.3 million ounces of silver during its production years from 1986 to 1996 (figure 3). Buddingtonite is considered an excellent epithermal vein pathfinder for gold mineralization and is found in association with Nevada's gold deposits. Buddingtonite is not easily identified in hand specimen as it does not occur in abundance, nor can it be confirmed by the standard multi-element geochemical analysis due to ammonium content NH4 (buddingtonite mineralogical formula NH4AlSi3O8). One of the quickest and easiest ways to measure the presence of buddingtonite in a rock sample in the field, is by a field spectrometer unit, which identifies the monoclinic crystal system spectra giving indication that buddingtonite is likely to be found within the rock sample. This gold pathfinder can now be applied to other rock samples at the Sandman project in search of additional gold deposits. Figure 1 shows photographs of where buddingtonite was identified by the field spectrometer in the Abel Knoll diatreme breccia core sample.
Initial test work at Sandman was conducted in May 2023 and confirms the presence of buddingtonite in association to gold mineralization at Abel Knoll, North Hill, and Silica Ridge. This gold mineralization aligns to the northwest trend as shown in figure 2.
Commenting on the results, Gold Bull's CEO, Cherie Leeden said:
“Finding buddingtonite as a gold pathfinder has been an ambition of our technical team and we are thrilled to learn it is present and associated with the known high-grade gold mineralization at Abel Knoll and North Hill deposits. Now that this test work has been completed, we can now get to work to identify where buddingtonite exists near surface on the project to help discover a new deposit, we are particularly excited to apply this low-cost technology to the North-West Trend and North-West basin boundary margin.”
Figure 1a-1f. Photographs of occurrences of buddingtonite in Abel Knoll drill core in the diatreme breccia and hand sample outcropping at North Hill.
Figure 2. Sandman exploration targets showing buddingtonite identified along 11.5km North-West trend.
Figure 3. Sleeper mine relative to Sandman project, the Sandman-Sleeper trend being a range front fault which spans 23km, the Sleeper mine is one of the highest-grade open pits mined in Nevada.
Figure 4. Location of Sandman project relative to Sleeper Gold Mine and other Nevada gold deposits.
NEXT STEPS
The Company now plans to conduct soil-gas orientation test work over the four deposits at Sandman in June 2023 to try to identify gold mineralized structures which are emitting gas, if successful this approach could be further applied to targeting greenfields exploration in the region, seeking a new discovery. Due to the localised geothermal activity, soil-gas testing is considered a potential prospective tool. This is a preliminary scientific survey aimed to help vector towards those structures that could be gold bearing however are typically covered by a thin veneer of unconsolidated sand dune. This scientific approach has not been tested in Nevada to the knowledge of the Gold Bull technical team yet represents another low-cost exploration tool for exploring undercover in this fertile gold bearing district.
ABOUT SLEEPER
The Sleeper-Sandman corridor is a highly endowed and underexplored terrain given the Sleeper Mine mined circa 2 million ounces of gold (plus 2.3 million ounces of silver) and had an approximate Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource of 3 million gold equivalent ounces at the time of mining. The mine is located circa 23 kilometers north of Sandman's North Hill deposit along the same Nevada gold trend. The Sleeper deposit measures 500m wide by 2km in strike length and was one of the highest-grade gold deposits mined in Nevada at 0.48opt (15g/t) gold. Sleeper had a reportable resource of 2.27 million ounces of gold in 1997 at the time of mine closure. The deposit was obscured by cover because it was partially covered by alluvium to the west and was not all outcropping. This highly prospective corridor has been massively underexplored and under drilled given the prolific known gold mineralization at or near surface in the district.
It should be noted, it took Sleeper thirty-four (34) step-out drill holes to discover the high-grade gold vein system with the discovery hole returning 102m of silicified breccia that averaged 28 g/t gold and 62 g/t silver. A very persistent exploration methodology was applied by Gold Bull's current Technical Advisor, John Wood, who is credited to discovering the high-grade Sleeper deposit (Wood pit named after him) which was surrounded by lower grade disseminated gold. The Sleeper anomaly had an initial surface geochemical expression 50-300m wide and 1,000m long, surface samples ran 0.2g/t gold and mineralization remains below the historical pit. A similar narrow surface expression also exists at the Sandman Southeast Pediment deposit and therefore it is considered possible to discover an additional deposit outside the existing Sandman orebodies.
ABOUT SANDMAN
In December 2020, Gold Bull purchased the Sandman Project from Newmont. Gold mineralization was first discovered at Sandman in 1987 by Kennecott and the project has been intermittently explored since then. There are four known pit constrained gold resources located within the Sandman Project, consisting of 21.8Mt at 0.7g/t gold for 494,000 ounces of gold; comprising of an Indicated Resource of 18,550kt at 0.73g/t gold for 433kozs of gold plus an Inferred Resource of 3,246kt at 0.58g/t gold for 61kozs of gold. Several of the resources remain open in multiple directions and the bulk of the historical drilling has been conducted to a depth of less than 100m. Sandman is conveniently located circa 25-30 km northwest of the mining town of Winnemucca, Nevada.
QUALIFIED PERSON
Cherie Leeden, B.Sc Applied Geology (Honours), MAIG, a“Qualified Person” as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has read and approved all technical and scientific information contained in this news release. Ms. Leeden is the Company's Chief Executive Officer.
ABOUT GOLD BULL RESOURCES CORP.
Gold Bull's mission is to grow into a US-focused mid-tier gold development Company via rapidly discovering and acquiring additional ounces. The Company's exploration hub is based in Nevada, USA, a top-tier mineral district that contains significant historical production, existing mining infrastructure and an established mining culture. Gold Bull is led by a Board and Management team with a track record of exploration and acquisition success.
Gold Bull's core asset is the Sandman Project, located in Nevada which has a 494,000 oz gold resource as per 2022 43-101 Resource Estimate. Sandman is located 23 km south of the Sleeper Mine and boasts excellent large-scale exploration potential.
Gold Bull is driven by its core values and purpose which includes a commitment to safety, communication & transparency, environmental responsibility, community, and integrity.
Cherie Leeden
President and CEO, Gold Bull Resources Corp.