Nevada’s Premier
Exploration Company
CORAL GOLD RESOURCES LTD.
US OTC BB: CLHRF
TSX.V: CLH
Contact: David Wolfin,
President and Director
Suite 400, 455 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6C 1T1
Phone: 604-682-3701
Fax: 604-682-3600
E-Mail:
investor-relations@coralgold.com
Web Site: www.coralgold.com
Shares Outstanding: 24,882,771
52 Week Trading Range:
U.S.: Hi: $1.15 • Low: $0.44
Canada: Hi: C$1.32 • Low: C$0.45
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Armed with a solid portfolio of gold-bearing properties and a significant increase in its estimated gold resource, Coral Gold Resources Ltd. (US OTC BB: CLHRF; TSX.V: CLH) -- www.coralgold.com -- is preparing a major exploration and development program aimed at establishing an economically mineable resource.
Coral’s flagship project is the 100%-owned Robertson Property, which, along with the company’s other prime properties, is located in Nevada’s South Crescent Valley. A close neighbor is the Barrick Pipeline Mine, which has 20 million contained ounces of gold reserves in structures that extend onto the Robertson claims. Other major mining companies operating in the state include Newmont, Glamis Gold and Queenstake.
Nevada is the most significant gold region in the United States in 2006 the state produced a record $4.9 billion from mining activities, with gold accounting for $3.8 billion of that total. Nevada mines produced 6.3 million ounces of gold more than 80% of all U.S. gold production and nearly 10% of world gold production, as well as 8.5 million ounces of silver and 127.6 million pounds of copper. The state still has 84.2 million ounces of gold reserves and remains a prime exploration area for gold companies.
Coral holds a portfolio of strategically-located claim blocks covering more than 10,000 acres along the rich Battle Mountain-Cortez gold trend in north-central Nevada, and southwest of the prolific Carlin trend. The company’s properties have high concentrations of gold in upper plate rocks, as well as lower plate gold-bearing structures which are typical of the region’s largest deposits.
“Coral is on the move,” says President David Wolfin. “Nevada is one of the best places on the planet to look for gold. We have the money and the technical expertise to advance our great properties. 2008 is going to be an exciting year.”
Robertson Property Inferred Gold Resource Increased 110%
The inferred resource estimate at Coral Gold’s Robertson Property has increased by 110% to 2.3 million ounces of gold, according to a report prepared by Beacon Hill Consultants Ltd. The resource encompasses 91.3 million tons grading 0.025 oz/t Au for contained gold of 2.3 million ounces (82.8 million tonnes grading 0.87 g/t Au. The estimate was based on a $600/oz gold price and a 70% recovery rate.
A portion of the resource covered in the report is locally exposed at surface and is potentially recoverable through an open pit mining operation. Some of the new resources remain open both along strike and at depth.
Significantly, the advanced-stage Robertson Project contains all necessary elements for discovery of a deeper-lying, Carlin-type orebody of world-class grade and tonnage. Also, the zones included in the Beacon Hill estimate are within the Robertson’s Core Claims and did not include other claim blocks, including Norma Sass, Lander Ranch, Ruf, Blue Nugget or the Excluded claims.
Significant areas of the Robertson Property remain unexplored. Over the years, drilling, geophysical surveys, sampling and production have generated intriguing information about the possibility of a very large resource at depth. The geology at Robertson can be compared with successful mines on both the Battle Mountain-Cortez and Carlin gold trends, where relatively shallow-lying gold mineralization leads to much larger resources at depth in lower plate rocks.
The Beacon Hill report recommends a three-pronged development program for 2008 and into the future, including:
- Additional exploration and definition drilling to further increase and upgrade Coral’s resource base to measured and/or indicated categories,
- A metallurgical program to test mining recovery characteristics, and
- A Preliminary Assessment Study to determine which mineralized zones have the greatest potential for development.
“Any way you look at it, the new resource estimate is a significant development for Coral Gold,” says Wolfin. “We have so much ground yet to explore and it seems everywhere we drill we hit new mineralization.”
More than $25 million has been spent over the past 20 years exploring the Robertson claims, which are immediately adjacent to the Pipeline gold mine. In the process, Coral has identified five mineralized zones the Porphyry, 39A, Gold Pan, Altenburg Hill and Distal. The most recent discovery of Carlin-style gold mineralization was made in the fall of 2007. Last year’s exploration efforts included detailed gravity, geological mapping, rock chip and grid soil sampling, and re-interpretation of existing airborne magnetics. A number of important structural and geochemical anomalies are similar to those associated with recent deep gold discoveries at Cortez Hills, deep Pipeline and other deposits along the Battle Mountain-Cortez and Carlin Trends. Two deep drill holes at Robertson confirmed Carlin-style mineralization.
All of this strongly points to the presence of prime targets for deeper exploration and possible discovery of a large, Carlin-style gold deposit and has changed Coral’s exploration strategy from a focus on near-surface deposits to deeper high-grade deposits mineable by underground methods.
Coral is planning a major drilling program, based on Beacon Hill’s findings and recommendations, to begin sometime this spring. According to Wolfin, the company has the funding in hand and is in the process of securing drilling permits.
Multiple Claims on Battle Mountain-Cortez Gold Trend in Property Portfolio
Coral Gold has no shortage of highly prospective exploration targets in Nevada.
The Excluded Claims are strategically located some 4,000 feet north of the Pipeline open pit mine and encompass the northward extension of the ore-hosting Pipeline fault.
The claims, a joint venture with Cortez Gold Mines, represent an outstanding target for discovery of a deeper-lying, Carlin-style orebody. Cortez, which operates the Pipeline mine, is manager of the joint venture.
Norma Sass, a 740-acre early-stage exploration project owned jointly by Coral Gold (two-thirds) and Levon Resources, is located immediately south of the Gold Acres open pit mine and west of the Pipeline. Previous exploratory drilling encountered gold hosted in carbonate rocks at relatively shallow depths. The conceptual target for future exploration is a potential high-grade Carlin-style gold mineralization.
The Ruf Claims, also a joint venture with Levon Resources, are northeast of the Pipeline Mine and mill complex. Geophysical surveys and drilling since the 1980s produced encouraging results.
Investment Considerations
Coral Gold picked Nevada’s Battle Mountain-Cortez Gold Trend as its exploration focus largely because the company recognized that the state’s existing gold mines would soon need replacement resources to keep their mills in operation. Although Nevada produced 6.3 million ounces of gold in 2006, the state’s gold output is decreasing. Because Nevada’s gold mines are maturing, major producers such as Barrick Gold and Newmont will need to replace reserves either through exploration or by acquiring defined resource from junior companies, such as Coral Gold.
Coral Gold has $4 million in the bank, more than enough to cover the costs of its ambitious 2008 exploration program. The company is operating in a politically stable, mining friendly region, and is strategically located next to proven and significant gold deposits. The company’s management team has tremendous technical expertise.
Despite the continued rising price of gold, the market has yet to recognize Coral Gold’s increased gold resource. At a $600 gold price, far less than current trading ranges, Coral’s gold resource is worth more than $1 billion. And if, as is expected, the company’s 2008 exploration program significantly adds to that resource total, Coral Gold’s value and undervalued market status should begin to change.
“As the resource at Robertson continues to grow, the property will become more and more attractive to major mining companies,” says Coral Gold President David Wolfin. “We have the huge Cortez Pipeline mine right next door, and there are many other mines in the region that will want new mill feed. Coral Gold is in an excellent strategic position.”
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