Nevada King Gold Corp. has secured a fourth drill rig for its 130-square-kilometre Atlanta Gold Mine Project in southeast Nevada, adding a second rotary air blast rig to support ongoing exploration across the property.

The second rotary air blast rig is expected on site in September, joining two reverse circulation rigs and the existing rotary air blast unit. The more mobile rotary air blast rigs are capable of reaching targets with challenging access, such as East Ridge, that reverse circulation rigs cannot reach. The expanded fleet supports the ongoing 40,000-metre Phase 4 drill program, which follows the completion of a 30,000-metre Phase 3 drilling program.

Alongside the rig expansion, road construction at Atlanta South is complete, enabling reverse circulation drilling to commence on the target. The excavator is now relocating to East Ridge to build access that will allow a reverse circulation rig to test mineralization below the 30-metre maximum depth of the rotary air blast drill in the fourth quarter.

Recent surface mapping and sampling have outlined a large, untested gold anomaly at the Splay Zone, spanning approximately 500 metres by 300 metres immediately north and east of the Atlanta pit. The Splay Zone sits directly on strike with the structural splays hosting the company's existing measured and indicated oxide resource of 1,020,000 ounces across 27.7 million tonnes grading 1.14 g/t, plus an inferred resource of 99,000 ounces across 3.6 million tonnes grading 0.84 g/t.

“The Splay Zone carries the same replacement-style gold in the same dolomite host as our resource and the recently announced East Ridge Target, yet it has never seen a drill hole. Rigorous mapping and the Company's structural reinterpretation suggest that earlier geological models were incomplete. East Ridge and the Atlanta pit appear to be one mineralizing system pulled apart around an uplifted fault block. Uplift exposed the ore mined from the Atlanta pit, while down-dropping preserved it in the resource and along East Ridge. Widespread gold mineralization is now observed at both the Splay Zone and the East Ridge Target, including the 4.68 g/t Au over 7.3m returned by RAB drilling at the East Ridge Target. We look forward to getting the second RAB drill on site to start testing through the cover and along these structures, and once road access is built, following up with the RC rig to test the true thickness of the host rock horizon.”

— Justin Daley, VP Exploration

Read the full announcement: NEVADA KING SECURES FOURTH DRILL RIG TO ATLANTA, PROVIDES EXPLORATION DRILLING UPDATE