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Target: Fireball Ridge is a horst block with numerous structurally controlled multigram gold occurrences. Exploration targets still exist within the horst block such as offsetting the mid 1980's hole with 25' of half oz. gold, but more importantly the southern hanging wall targets remain essentially untested.
Location: The Fireball Ridge project is about 45 miles ENE of Reno and just NW of Brady's Hot Spring on Highway 80 north of Fernley in Churchill County, Nevada. The project area of interest is 8,828 acres, most of which is under direct control by claims, leases, and options to lease. The project area is adjacent to the AuEx-Tournigan JPW project.
Ownership: AuEx has granted Tournigan, a Vancouver based, TSX.V listed company, an option to earn a 51% interest in the project by funding $1,000,000 in exploration on the project within five years. Tournigan paid AuEx $35,000 on signing (which includes payment for other projects in the area) and is obligated to fund $100,000 of exploration in the first year of the option. Upon vesting an interest, Tournigan may then elect to earn an additional 9% interest (60% total) by spending an additional $1,000,000 within three years on the project and may earn an additional 10% interest (70% total) by funding all expenditures through completion of feasibility and by arranging project financing. The agreement also contains a 150 square mile Area of Interest ("AOI") that surrounds and includes three established projects including Fireball Ridge. AuEx has performed remote sensing, gravity and magnetics analysis that has identified possible exploration targets. Tournigan may establish additional exploration projects within the AOI for which the earn-in requirements are one-half of the amounts noted above. Tournigan will be operator for all exploration.
History: The Fireball project, consisting of AuEx's former Fireball Ridge and Fireball South projects, is a series of tertiary epithermal gold systems and at least one mesothermal Cu-Au target identified through surface sampling and previous drilling. These systems are evidenced by several historic mine workings consisting of small shafts and adits. AuEx has obtained and compiled this drill data along with other exploration data and has developed new untested exploration targets.
Geology: The property contains a low sulfidation, epithermal gold-silver mineral system hosted within Mesozoic metasediments and tertiary volcanics. A small zone of gold mineralization has been identified by earlier drilling and is present within fractured, silicified, adularia bearing Mesozoic metasediments on the footwall side of a large range front fault. Tertiary volcanics are present in the area and are believed to be present in the pediment covered hanging wall side of the range front fault. Old workings are developed at the south end of Fireball Ridge that includes pre-Tertiary mesothermal Cu-Au mineralization.
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