Barrick’s Fourmile discovery could be the gold find of the century – these ASX explorers are looking for the next one

• Barrick has made what has been described as this century’s greatest gold discovery in Nevada
• AngloGold’s big greenfields growth project is also in Nevada
• The spotlight on the US state is positive for the Aussie juniors exploring there

Gold major Barrick Mining Corporation wowed the market last week with more details of its “generational” Fourmile gold discovery in Nevada.

Fourmile is wholly owned by Barrick but sits adjacent to Barrick and Newmont Corporation’s Nevada Gold Mines complex, the largest gold operation in the world.

Barrick boss Mark Bristow used his address last week to global gold gathering, the Mining Forum Americas in Colorado, to describe Fourmile as the best gold discovery of this century, with a preliminary economic assessment confirming the potential for a top 10 global gold mine.

The PEA outlined a US$1.5-1.7 billion underground operation to produce an eyewatering 600,000-750,000 ounces of gold per annum at all-in sustaining costs of US$650-750 an ounce over at least 25 years.

The study was based on the project’s high-grade 7.8Moz resource, comprising a measured and indicated 3.6Mt at 11.8g/t gold and an inferred 14Mt at 14.1g/t gold.

The company has also outlined exploration upside of 32-34Mt at 15-16g/t and is expanding its current drilling program from 16 to 20 rigs.

“Very few projects anywhere in the world today can offer this combination of grade, scale and cashflow,” Bristow said.

“Fourmile is one of those rare discoveries that has the potential to reset the industry cost curve.”

Barrick is aiming to bring Fourmile into production from 2029.

While it’s difficult for a news release to move the needle for a large company, Barrick shares rose by more than 22% in the five trading days following the announcement to a 13-year high.

But it’s not just about Barrick

Microcap Sierra Nevada Gold (ASX:SNX) holds a portfolio of gold and silver projects in Nevada.

One of them is Colorback, which is within 25km of Fourmile, and sits adjacent to the Pipeline and Robertson deposits.

“All of the adjacent projects are 10-20Moz-plus projects,” Sierra Nevada executive chairman Peter Moore told Stockhead.

Sierra Nevada drilled a “leakage anomaly” at Colorback in late 2022, which returned 29.3m at 1.3g/t gold, including 7.3m at 3.61g/t gold from 7.3m.

The assays confirmed near-surface oxide gold mineralisation associated with the intersection of the interpreted major northwest trending Cortez structures and the north-northeast trending Pipeline structures.

Sierra Nevada has identified large-scale fertile structures with the potential to host a significant Carlin-style mineral system.

Moore said Sierra Nevada regarded Colorback as a high-value drilling prospect.

“SNX is monitoring developments at Robertson and Fourmile and has drill targets identified at Colorback,” he said.

The company has been busy at its other Nevada projects, reporting new high-grade targets this month at the New Pass and Warrior projects.

Moore said the plan was to carry out shallow RC drilling at Colorback when funding allowed.

Emerging gold field

While Fourmile was the big story of the Mining Forum Americas, it wasn’t the only Nevada development being promoted.

AngloGold Ashanti’s major greenfields growth prospect is the 14.3Moz Arthur gold project in the Beatty District of Nevada, where a pre-feasibility study is underway.

CEO Alberto Calderon last week predicted Arthur would account for a third of the company’s value in the next decade.

Australian junior Mammoth Minerals (ASX:M79) (formerly Firetail Resources) recently acquired the Excelsior Springs gold project in Nevada, within 100km of Arthur.

Both Excelsior Springs and Arthur sit within the Walker Lane tectonic zone, which has produced more than 40Moz of gold.

Mammoth managing director Glenn Poole told the Resources Rising Stars Conference on the Gold Coast last week that there had been more than A$1.5 billion worth of corporate deals done within 100km of Excelsior Springs.

In July, AngloGold announced the C$152 million cash takeover of Canada’s Augusta Gold Corp to expand its landholding in the district.

On the royalty side, Triple Flag Precious Metals Corp paid C$421 million for Orogen Royalties Inc to give it ownership of a 1% net smelter return royalty over Arthur, while Franco-Nevada Corporation also recently acquired a 1% NSR royalty on the project.

“So, the majors are interested,” Poole said.

Excelsior Springs’ Buster mine produced 19,200oz at 41g/t gold from shallow underground workings but has not had any modern exploration.

More recent exploration has defined a target area with a strike length of 3.5km and 200-400m wide.

Mammoth recently kicked off the first-ever diamond drilling at Excelsior Springs.

“We’ll be drilling with two rigs through Q3/Q4 and the idea is that we’ll continue building that into next year,” Poole said.

Mammoth is targeting a resource by the end of the year.

Newcomers

Last Wednesday, another two ASX-listed juniors announced project acquisitions in Nevada.

PVW Resources (ASX:PVW) acquired a package of US projects in Nevada and Idaho.

The acquisition included the Cobb Creek project in Nevada on the Independence trend, the same trend that hosts James Bay Minerals’ 1.4Moz Independence gold project.

Cobb Creek has a historical resource of 173,000oz of gold at 1.44 g/t gold.

Incoming PVW director Martin Walters said Cobb Creek remained “virtually untouched” since the early 1990s.

“That underexplored potential, in the middle of a world-class district, is incredibly rare,” he said.

Meanwhile, Altitude Minerals (ASX:ATT) announced the acquisition from Orogen of the Firenze project, two hours from Reno. Orogen was the same company that initially pegged AngloGold’s Arthur project.

The Firenze project was recently released by the Bureau of Land Management and has never been drilled.

Rock chipping has returned grades of up to 44g/t gold, as well as 1825g/t silver.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Sierra Nevada Gold and Mammoth Minerals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.