Athena Gold has reached an agreement with Silver Reserve to acquire a 100% stake in the Blue Dick Mine in Nevada, US, enhancing its Excelsior Springs Project.
The deal includes 11 unpatented Bureau of Land Management (BLM) claims spanning around 89 hectares (ha) and technical data related to the mining claims.
For this acquisition, the company agreed to pay $45,000 in cash and a 3% NSR.
Blue Dick Mine, discovered in the 1870s, was historically a high-grade producer of silver, gold and base metals.
The acquisition increases the Excelsior Springs Project landholding in the Walker Lane Trend, Nevada, to 1,675ha, and further contributes to Athena's goal of consolidating key historic mines on Palmetto Mountain, helping it gain access to significant targets for future exploration.
Jack Quade, representing the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, visited the Blue Dick Mine in 1982.
During his visit he collected samples, which indicated significant mineralisation including 33 parts per million (ppm) gold and 1,500ppm silver.
Additionally, sampling by Silver Reserve's consulting geologist, Richard Milne, in June 2007, reinforced the presence of anomalous precious and base metal values.
Of the 16 rock-chip samples collected by Milne, 14 were from the claims Athena is now acquiring.
No exploration drilling or geophysical surveys have been conducted on the Blue Dick claims to date.
Athena plans to analyse and integrate the additional rock and soil data from the Blue Dick claims into its exploration database, which may guide future exploration programmes.
Athena president John Power said: “This is an exciting opportunity for Athena as it consolidates the heart of the Palmetto Mountain Trend for the first time as part of our Excelsior Springs Project.
“It also provides new prospective gold, copper and silver targets to our expanding land package. Palmetto Peak was once the end of our claim block but is now the 50-yard line with the historic Buster mine and Western Slope to the west of the peak and Lida Belle and Blue Dick to the south-east.
"Our immediate focus remains on finalising our Phase 4 exploration plans at Excelsior Springs as we build upon the success of our Phase 1 – Phase 3 RC [reverse circulation] drilling programmes completed in 2022 and 2023.”
