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Dutch Flat Property
The Dutch Flat Property consists of 114 unpatented mineral claims, covering approximately 2,355 acres, located in Humboldt County, approximately 20 miles northeast of the town of Winnemucca, Hot Springs Range, Nevada. The property lies at the north end of the Battle Mountain Trend.
Subject to third party net smelter royalties, the Dutch Flat Property is 100% owned by Columbus and has been optioned to Piedmont Mining Company, Inc., which can earn a 51% interest in the property by incurring US$2 million in exploration expenditures over a five year period. After earning a 51% interest, Piedmont can elect to earn an additional 19% (for a total of 70%) of Dutch Flat by funding the completion of a positive feasibility study.
The Dutch Flat claims cover all the historic Dutch Flat mining district which had modest production of gold from both lode and alluvial sources during the early 1900's. Modern exploration, principally drilling totaling 14,381 feet in 49 holes, was carried out by Amax and Brican Resources Ltd., in the 1980's.
Dutch Flat geology is dominated by a crudely circular granitic body of Cretaceous age intruding Cambrian sediments. Shales and limy siltstones in the sequence are extensively hornfelsed with quartz veins and veinlets adjacent to the intrusive and along northeast shear and multiple fracture zones.
The Amax and Brican drilling programs outlined a broad zone of low grade (averaging approximately 0.01 ounce per ton (opt)) gold mineralization traceable for 4,000 feet, and open in both directions and at depth, along the southeast margin of the Dutch Flat granite. Surface sampling has returned higher grades (up to 1 opt Au) along structures which were not systematically tested or evaluated in previous programs.
Exploration targets at Dutch Flat include large bodies of disseminated gold in hornfelsed sediments and higher grade vein zones. Three to four thousand feet of reverse circulation drilling is planned for the fall of 2006. The principle objective of the drilling is largely to evaluate the degree to which previous drilling may have undervalued the free gold content of the property.
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