The Temple Project is located in the western portion of the Eureka Mining District in Eureka County, Nevada. Bravada can acquire 100% interest in 54 unpatented lode-mining claims that comprise this project, subject to a 2% NSR royalty retained by the underlying owner, which can be reduced to 1% by payment of US$1,000,000.
Gold mineralization on the Temple Project occurs in Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, and the characteristics of the mineralization are similar to that of numerous Carlin-type gold deposits. At least five companies have conducted significant exploration programs on the Temple Project prior to Bravada's acquisition of the property; drilling was conducted by all five of these companies.
These programs were primarily directed toward discovery of a shallow gold deposit in clastic rocks that could be amenable to open-pit mining. Several thin to moderate intercepts of more than 0.3g/t Au were encountered in multiple drill holes, but strong potential for a large, near-surface resource was not demonstrated. These gold intercepts appear to be related to high-angle feeder faults that deposited gold at a contact where the fluids were dammed by shale beds above a massive limestone.
Bravada has acquired data from historic drilling programs as well as generated new data from surface mapping and sampling programs. These data sets have been integrated into a three-dimensional computer model, and new interpretations of the mineralizing controls identified two new targets. Feeder structures that deposited gold in the clastic rocks cut highly favorable host rocks at depths that have not been drilled at Temple. Any upward-migrating, gold-bearing fluids that passed through these structures would have first encountered these deeper, more-reactive host rocks, which may have concentrated most of the available gold into much larger and higher-grade mineralized bodies than those found to date.
The targets envisioned at Temple are at depths of more than 365m in the Saddler Ranch and McColley Canyon Formations, where approximately 180m of highly favorable host rock are projected to underlie a thick cap of massive dolomite. Drill holes would be situated to test the favorable formations in proximity to feeder structures known to carry anomalous gold and other elements typical of a Carlin-type gold system. Six drill sites have been permitted to test these targets.
