Nevada King Gold Demonstrates Average Gold Cyanide Solubility Of 86.7% In Initial Testing At Atlanta Gold Mine, Battle Mountain Trend, Nevada

VANCOUVER, BC, July 5, 2022 /CNW/ – Nevada King Gold Corp. (TSXV: NKG) (OTCQX: NKGFF) (“Nevada King” or the “Company“) is pleased to announce very positive results from its Stage 1 cyanide solubility testing program at the Company’s 100% owned Atlanta Gold Mine, located 264km northeast of Las Vegas at the southern end of the Battle Mountain Trend. The project has historically returned significant gold grades but was long considered to have limited amenability to cyanide extraction. A total of 986 mineralized samples were selected from 54 RC holes covering the extent of the 2021 drilling. All samples were submitted to American Assay Lab (AAL) for cyanide solubility and ICP multi-element analyses.

• Gold cyanide solubility demonstrated a weighted average of 86.7% across 986 samples.
• Samples analysed were widely distributed, with over half coming from outside the historical Atlanta Mine open pit, extending up to 560m north of the pit (see Figure 1).
• Cyanide solubility was consistently high in all holes, with 69% of the samples exceeding 80% Au cyanide solubility (see Table 1) while only 2% of the samples returned less than 50% cyanide solubility.
• Aside from gold grade, no systematic influence on cyanide solubility was observed with respect to depth, gold grade, rock type, alteration type, degree of silicification, degree of fracturing, clay content, or collar location. Gold solubility is slightly higher in material exceeding 1.50g/t. Samples were for the most part thoroughly oxidized and ranged in depth from the surface down to 197m.
• Designed by the Company’s metallurgical consultant, Gary Simmons (announced April 12, 2022), this Stage 1 program used 986 pulp samples exceeding 0.100 g/t Au averaging 1.16 g/t with values ranging up to 18.2 g/t. The holes tested are located east and north of the Gustavson 2020 pit-constrained resource zone along a 1,000m stretch of the N-S trending Atlanta Mine Fault zone.

Exploration Manager Cal Herron stated: “As seen in Table 2, average gold cyanide solubility across 54 RC holes is remarkably consistent and averages 86.7%. These results clearly demonstrate that gold mineralization at Atlanta is not refractory due to sulfides or organic carbon or encapsulated by silica at fine particle size. Consequently, Nevada King’s 2022 resource definition and expansion drilling program will include additional shallow RC drilling to test lower grade zones outside of the Gustavson resource zone in areas previously considered waste. The cyanide solubility tests also indicate higher-grade mineralization has higher cyanide solubility than the low-grade material. Referring to Table 3, a noticeable difference in gold solubilities is seen in the fire assay data at 1.50 g/t. Samples exceeding 1.50 g/t Au comprise 21.7% of the entire test sample population, averaging 3.88 g/t and 87.7% gold solubility. In contrast, samples running less than 1.50 g/t returned gold solubilities in the 83% range.

Our Stage 2 metallurgical testing program will therefore include conventional crush and High Pressure Grinding Roll (HPGR) comminution column leach tests on low-grade and higher-grade mineralization along the Atlanta Mine Fault zone to test the potential for heap leaching portions of the resource. Based on such encouraging gold cyanide solubility data, the Company is also expanding its cyanide testing program to include pulps from mineralized historical drill holes located west of the existing pit to determine gold solubilities within the Gustavson 2020 resource zone. Under the direction of Gary Simmons, bulk sampling within and around the pit will soon commence, together with a PQ core drilling program designed to provide samples for bottle roll and column leach testing.”

Metallurgical Consultant Gary Simmons stated: “The gold cyanide solubilities reported by AAL demonstrate the consistent oxidized nature of the mineralized gold system at the Atlanta Mine. The high cyanide solubilities lead to the conclusion that cyanide leach milling and conventional crush and/or HPGR heap leach process flow sheet options are potentially viable and will be tested on PQ metallurgical core samples planned for 2022. Additional ICP sulfur (S) analysis by AAL has shown higher than anticipated S content. Upon further review, it was determined that most of the elevated ICP sulfur assays are associated with the sulfate minerals, barite and gypsum and not sulfides. Additional testing by AAL has already been designed to determine the most appropriate method to remove the sulfur contained in barite and gypsum sulfates to obtain a more representative total sulfur analysis using ICP.” 

Table 1.  Summary of gold cyanide solubility tests on 986 drill hole intervals from Nevada King’s 2021 program. ^{^}Due to natural variation in the distribution of gold in the samples, certain samples demonstrate higher than 100% gold solubility. In such cases, the split that was analyzed via fire assay may have fewer gold particles in it than the split that was used for the CN solubility analysis.

Table 2. Averaged gold solubilities with cyanide for 986 sample intervals from 54 RC holes drilled at Atlanta by Nevada King in 2021

Table 3. Gold solubility with respect to gold grade

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Calvin R. Herron, P.Geo., who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101“).

About Nevada King Gold Corp.

Nevada King is the third largest mineral claim holder in the State of Nevada, behind Nevada Gold Mines (Barrick/Newmont) and Kinross Gold. Starting in 2016 through to the present day the Company has staked large project areas hosting significant historical exploration work along the Battle Mountain trend located close to current or former producing gold mines. These project areas were initially targeted based on their potential for hosting multi-million ounce gold deposits and were subsequently staked following a detailed geological evaluation. District-scale projects in Nevada King’s portfolio include (1) the 100% owned Atlanta Mine, located 100km southeast of Ely, (2) the Lewis and Horse Mountain-Mill Creek projects, both located between Nevada Gold Mines’ large Phoenix and Pipeline mines, and (3) the Iron Point project, located 35km east of Winnemucca, Nevada.

The Atlanta Mine is a historical gold-silver producer with a NI 43-101 compliant pit-constrained resource of 460,000 oz Au in the measured and indicated category (11.0M tonnes at 1.3 g/t) plus an inferred resource of 142,000 oz Au (5.3M tonnes at 0.83 g/t). See the NI 43-101 Technical Report on Resources titled “Atlanta Property, Lincoln County, NV” with an effective date of October 6, 2020, and a report date of December 22, 2020, as prepared by Gustavson Associates and filed under the Company’s profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).

Please see the Company’s website at www.nevadaking.ca.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain “forward-looking information” and “forward-looking statements” (collectively “forward-looking statements”) within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, without limitation, statements relating the future operations and activities of Nevada King, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as “expects”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “intends”, “estimates”, “potential”, “possible”, and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results “will”, “may”, “could”, or” should” occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements in this news release relate to, among other things, further metallurgical testing and exploration plans, including resource definition and expansion drilling, and the Company’s ability to potentially expand mineral resources and the impact thereon. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections on the date the statements are made and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by Nevada King, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and the parties have made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation, the ability to complete proposed exploration work given the global COVID-19 pandemic, the results of exploration, continued availability of capital, and changes in general economic, market and business conditions. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release concerning these items. Nevada King does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by applicable securities laws.