Project Overview

80 claims covering 1,500 acres 24 km SE of the 12M oz Cortez Hills gold deposit within the prolific Cortez trend in Eureka County, Nevada

Previous drilling by Barrick returned high-grade results, including:

  • 24.4m of 4.99 g/t Au, including 13.7m of 8.11 g/t Au confirming sediment-hosted gold system is present

Property not adequately tested for deep potential given Barrick’s nearby multi-million ounce Goldrush discovery 12 km northwest of Red Hill along the Cortez trend

Property acquired for an initial $25,000 payment with subsequent payments spread over 10 years and annual claim maintenance fees of $13,244

Gold in the Cortez Trend in Nevada, USA

Red Hill is a sediment-hosted gold project located 24 kilometers southeast of the 12 million ounce Cortez Hills gold deposit within the Cortez trend. The project covers an extensive area of hydrothermally altered lower plate carbonate rocks. In 2006, drill hole BRH-013 intersected 24.4 meters of 4.99 g/t Au from 585.4 to 609.8 metres, including 13.7 meters of 8.11 g/t Au from 585.4 to 599.1 meters.

Gold mineralization is hosted in silty carbonate rocks of the Denay formation associated with altered lamprophyre dikes; and high levels of arsenic, antimony, mercury and thallium. These features are indicative of a Carlin-style gold system.

Figure 1. Red Hill property location, carbonate windows and major gold deposits.

Previous drilling at Red Hill intersected

8.11 g/t Au over 13.7m

Amaerican Pacific believes that the Red Hill Property has been inadequately tested for the deep potential considering Barrick’s nearby multi-million ounce Goldrush discovery located 12km northwest of Red Hill along the Cortez trend.

American Pacific acquired the Red Hill Property for an initial payment of $25,000 and will make subsequent yearly payments1 over 10 a ten year period beginning in 2022, plus annual claim maintenance fees of $13,244.

Upon production commencing on the Red Hill Property, American Pacific will pay Nevada North a 3% net smelter royalty (NSR), 1.5% of which American Pacific may buy back for US$3,000,000.

During the NuLegacy Gold Corporation’s drilling campaigns at the Red Hill project, only one drill hole was directed at the deep potential of the property near BRH-013. The property was inadequately tested for the deep potential considering Barrick’s nearby multi-million ounce Goldrush discovery, 7.5 mi (12km) northwest of Red Hill along the Cortez trend. Goldrush occurs at similar depths as the mineralization in BRH-013.

In this drill hole, gold mineralization is hosted in silty carbonate rocks associated with altered lamprophyre dikes and high levels of arsenic, antimony, mercury, and thalium, indicating the potential for a Carlin-style gold system present at Red Hill.

Location

Red Hill is located in the northern Simpson Park Mountains, approximately 80 road miles (128 km) southwest of Elko, Nevada. The property is along the Cortez Gold Trend, a west-northwest alignment of bulk-mineable, sediment-hosted gold deposits including Pipeline, Cortez Hills, Gold Acres, Cortez, and Horse Canyon.

(Figure 1) Red Hill is 15 miles (24 km) southeast of the Cortez Hills gold deposit, a +12 million ounce sediment-hosted gold deposit owned by Barrick Gold Corporation.

Figure 1. Red Hill property location, carbonate windows and major gold deposits.

Geology

Two distinct sedimentary rock packages occur on the property. They include:

1. Upper plate, siliceous sedimentary rocks of the Vinini and Valmy Formations. Chert, mudstone, and greenstone are typical rock types. These rocks are covered by pediment gravels in the northern and eastern portions of the property. Siliceous rocks are generally poor hosts for large, sediment-hosted gold deposits.

2. Lower-plate, Silurian to Devonian age carbonate rocks dominated by silty to muddy limestone, fossiliferous limestone, siltstone, and lesser chert. These rocks are included in the Horse Mountain, Devil’s Gate, Denay, and McColley Canyon Formations. At Red Hill, lower plate carbonate rocks crop out in the mountains and are present beneath pediment gravel and upper plate rocks to the north and east. Carbonate rocks are the preferred host for multi-million ounce gold deposits along the Cortez and Carlin Gold Trends.

The upper and lower plate rock packages are separated by a low angle, regional fault known as the Roberts Mountains thrust. Erosion of the upper plate rocks created “windows” that expose favorable lower plate carbonate rocks. At Red Hill, the JD Window is one of five unique carbonate windows along a 35 mile (56km), west northwest-striking corridor through the Shoshone, Cortez, and Simpson Park mountain ranges. The alignment of carbonate windows coincides with the Cortez Gold Trend (Figure 1). Within this corridor are the +12 million ounce Cortez Hills deposit and the +20 million ounce Pipeline deposit. They are located in the Cortez and Gold Acres windows, respectively.

Lower and upper plate rocks are complicated by numerous high-angle east-northeast, northwest, northeast and north-south striking faults and northwest-striking folds.

These structural features provide pathways for hydrothermal alteration and metals. For example, the east northeast-striking Long fault contains hydrothermal alteration and anomalous gold along 7,000 ft (2,134m) of strike length. This fault cuts through a 3,200 by 4,000 ft (975 by 1,219m) area of pervasive red to yellow iron oxidation, decalcification and localized silicification in lower plate carbonate rocks. Historic drilling in this area did not systematically test favorable rocks of the Denay/Red Hills member and McColley Canyon Formation.
Figure 3. Red Hill Geology with targets

Exploration History

Initial work focused on economic evaluation of outcropping antimony mineralization on the east side of the property. Beginning in the 1960’s, Cordero, Homestake, Kennecott, Pathfinder, Uranerz, and Romarco completed gold exploration programs on portions of the Red Hill property. Exploration concentrated on silicified and brecciated carbonate rocks exposed along the east-northeast striking Long fault. Four dozen shallow rotary holes tested these altered rocks for near surface, oxide gold mineralization. (Figure 3) Drill results confirmed anomalous gold and pathfinder elements, but economic gold intercepts were thin and low grade. Other widely spaced, shallow drill holes targeted geochemical and geophysical anomalies within the mountain range. Figure 3 illustrates drill hole locations and grade thickness (GT) values. Grade thickness values are calculated by multiplying a mineralized interval by the corresponding gold grade. These intervals are summed for the length of a drill hole.
The GT value indicates strength of gold mineralization in a drill hole where cooler colors (blue, green) represent lower GT’s and warmer colors (orange, red) represent higher GT’s. GT values are not tied to economic criteria. The north and east portions of the project are covered by a thin veneer of unconsolidated pediment (alluvial) gravels. The pediment is a gently sloping surface away from the mountain range where the gravels cover bedrock and potential exploration opportunities. Multi-million ounce, economic gold deposits have been discovered under pediment cover in Nevada including: Pipeline, Cortez Hills, Gold Quarry, and Twin Creeks. Historic drilling at Red Hill did not test for large, sediment-hosted gold deposits beneath pediment gravels. This exploration opportunity was recognized by Miranda and Barrick and it led to the significant results in BRH-013: 45 ft of 0.237 oz Au/t (13.7m of 8.105g Au/t) from 1,920 to 1,965 ft (585.4 to 599.1m).

Joint Venture Exploration

Miranda Gold optioned Red Hill to Placer Dome US, Inc. (PDUS), in 2004. PDUS completed geologic mapping, a CSAMT survey, a systematic soils program, a CO2 gas survey, and one drill hole in 2005. Drill hole PRH0508 was designed to test a gravel covered horst margin inferred from CSAMT data. The hole ended at 940 feet in upper plate chert/mudstone. Favorable lower plate carbonate rocks were not intersected and no significant gold intercepts were encountered.

In 2006, Barrick became Miranda’s funding partner at Red Hill following its merger with Placer Dome. Barrick, as operator, completed 9,860 feet (3,006m) of drilling in four holes at the West Pediment prospect and detailed gravity at the East Pediment prospect (Figure 3). Hole BRH-013 intersected 80 feet of 0.146 oz Au/t (24.4m of 4.987g Au/t) from 1,920 to 2,000 feet (585.4 to 609.8m), including 45 feet of 0.237 oz Au/t 913.7m of 8.105g Au/t) from 1,920 to 1,965 feet (585.4 to 599.1m) (Figures 3 and 4). Gold mineralization is hosted by lower plate carbonate rocks of the Red Hill member of the Denay Formation. Altered lamprophyre dikes and high levels of arsenic, antimony, mercury, and thallium are associated with the gold intercept. (Figures 5, 6 and 7) These features indicate that a Carlin-style gold system is present at Red Hill.

Qualified Person

Technical aspects of this website have been reviewed and approved by the designated Qualified Person (QP) under National Instrument 43-101, Eric Saderholm, P.Geo.

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