Ardent Mines is a NY-headquartered mineral developer with extensive ties in Brazil, the cultivation of which reached a high-water mark in 2011 with the acquisition of the company’s primary foci, the Misty Hills Project (just 12.4 miles south of one of the planet’s most well-known, high-grade gold and platinum group metal deposits, Serra Pelada) in Para and the Gold Hills Project (estimated resource potential calculated to be 931k oz Au) in Pernambuco.
With globally recognized exploration-to-production mining consultancy practice SRK Consulting Inc. in tow to handle NI 43-101 compliant technical reportage and the like, ADNT is fiercely proceeding with the Gold Hills Project in particular. The recent commencement of the geological exploration campaign at Gold Hills (exploration potential of the some 8,650 acres of mineral rights was previously calculated by SRK to be 3.6M to 6M tons at an average grade of 4.0 g/t to 7.0 g/t Au) along the 8.4-mile long gold trend was a good opportunity for ADNT to flex their managerial muscle, and the company’s leadership has wasted no time in assembling an extremely proficient, veteran technical team to spearhead operations.
ADNT has a 100% interest in Gold Hills Mining Ltda., which owns mineral rights on the entire Gold Hills property, and the company brought in some serious muscle, with extensive knowledge of developing minerals in Brazil and Venezuela, to supercharge the local operation. A rigorous perusal of the extant geochemical/geophysical data on Gold Hills (including extensive work done by Brazilian government agency CPRM, who pulled over 100k ounces of gold from ore at grades of 60 to 260 g/t), combined with surveying, sampling, drainage, and underground work, was priority one for SRK and the ADNT team, and the results of this analysis/work, modeled via detailed geological and structural mapping, affirmed the main mineralized body dimensions, as well as allowing for the identification of seven, distinctly richer zones. SRK put in a good deal of work prepping the underground area for exploration, including clearing debris and reinforcing the main shaft and galleries.
The seven distinct richer zones being identified is great news as the company kicks off their now finely-tuned exploratory drilling program of some 9,840 feet at Gold Hills (the company intends to have drills in the ground within four weeks of the July 2 announcement date pending finalization of the drilling contracts and has approved an initial budget of $750k, including services and core boxes). Processing of some 10 kg of tailings from historical artisan workings in one of the newly identified rich areas on the site showed a very high-grade 0.3 g/t Au via manual pan concentration testing, further underscoring the analytical review model and potential of the project/new areas.
Gold Hills is shaping up to be a globally-competitive, significant gold trend and will likely be the company’s main focus moving forward, with the 70% interest (option for remaining rights after initial exploration), 24.7k-acre Misty Hills Project in second place, despite its tantalizing potential. The Carajás Mineral Province in which the Misty Hills project sits is extremely receptive to mining and has seen widespread mineral recovery activity since at least the local gold boom in the 1970’s. The Misty Hills geology looks like a clear extension of neighboring iron, copper, and gold mineralization in which millions of ounces of gold has been confirmed, with a 15 lb nugget being the biggest chunk recovered back during the Serra Pelada gold boom.
Prior shallow open pitting to a depth of approximately 40 to 50 feet with small shafts slightly deeper (now flooded) showed copper at concentrations of 0.5% to as much as 3%, with gold concentrations up to 10 g/t according to the local miners. The extremely rich mineralization of gold and platinum group metals in the area offers profound value potential for Misty Hills and while the main focus for ADNT is currently on Gold Hills, the company eventually plans to pursue a projected $5-10M initial exploration campaign as per the Misty Hills Option Agreement.
Gold Hills alone has roughly $64.6M (by current in-situ gold price) in it and with Misty Hills also looking like a prime target, ADNT has clearly assembled a very nice acreage position for itself in Brazil. The company is continuing to exploit their extensive regional ties and due diligence expertise to find additional prime targets, but looks towards Gold Hills as the current flagship endeavor.
Ardent Mines is on-track to become Brazil’s next gold producer, with the local field office down in Brasilia providing regional over watch as things progress. Since the beginning of this year, the stock’s price has already risen by more than 700%. To learn more about this emerging mineral developer, please visit the Ardent Mines Ltd. website at: www.ArdentMines.com
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