i-80 Gold Corp has completed the rehabilitation of its underground drill bays at the Getchell property, which was recently renamed Granite Creek. Underground exploration is now under way. The company said it changed the name to avoid confusion with the Getchell open-pit mine, located on the Nevada Gold Mines’ (NGM) Turquoise Ridge Complex.
Locate at the north end of the Battle Mountain-Eureka trend where it intersects the Getchell gold belt, the Granite Creek project hosts both open-pit and underground resources and is relatively close to NGM’s Twin Creeks and Turquoise Ridge mines.
The 2021 Granite Creek drilling program (surface and underground) will consist of 22,000 meters (m) of drilling. Underground drilling will be focused on delineating sufficient resources for developing a near-term development and mining plan. Ongoing surface drilling will also test near-surface mineralization and open-pit definition to advance permitting for open-pit mining, include heap leach processing on site.
“Advancing the Granite Creek mine project to producer status is the company’s primary focus for 2021,” President and COO Matt Gili said. “The large-scale drilling program is designed to increase resources, advance permitting to facilitate open-pit mining, and prepare for test mining ahead of feasibility studies.”
