COLUMBUS GOLD CORPORATION : http://www.columbusgoldcorp.com/ : Linka Project
Linka Project
The Linka Project consists of 188 mineral claims, covering approximately 3885 acres, located 15 miles southwest of Austin, Nevada. Subject to net smelter royalties, Columbus owns a 100 percent interest in the project.
The Linka Project is made up of two separate properties: the Pete's Summit Property and the Link Property which are located in a belt six miles long and covering altered outcrops of the Roberts Mountain Formation, which is the host rock for Carlin-type gold deposits in Nevada. The Roberts Mountain Formation in the Linka Project area is exposed in a series of windows through the Roberts Mountain Thrust Fault. Major disseminated gold ore bodies at the original Carlin, Cortez, and Pipeline mines are hosted in the Roberts Mountain Formation. These mines yielded the best gold grades and tonnages in the history of Nevada gold production, and hence altered and geochemically anomalous areas in the Roberts Mountain Formation are highly sought-after by the explorationists.
Columbus' grassroots prospecting program has located several hydrothermally altered areas with preliminary sampling containing low gold (to 360 ppb), arsenic (to 1000 ppm), antimony (to 100 ppm), and mercury (to several ppm). The association of these elements in geochemical anomalies hosted in limy sedimentary rocks is considered diagnostic of Carlin-type gold mineralization. Exposure in the anomalous areas is poor with shallow blow sand and gravel cover obscuring the rocks below and making sampling difficult. Most of Columbus' samples are of float. The anomalous areas have dimensions up to several thousand feet, and are large enough to host sizable ore bodies.
Geochemical sampling, likely in grid fashion, is the next step at the Linka Project, along with careful geologic mapping. Trenching of the geochemical anomalies is likely. Geophysical surveying (likely CSAMT) to locate buried structures will also be employed. It is very likely that these programs will yield targets for drill testing in late 2006.
