LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Great Western Mining has poured first gold and silver and produced a doré bar, it announced on Monday, as a pilot exercise using material from test spoil heaps on its Mineral Jackpot property in Mineral County, Nevada.
The AIM-traded firm said the success of the trial proved the concept of being able to extract gold and silver from up to 12,000 tons of material available from 38 spoil heaps on the property.

It said the operation was carried out at a facility in Mineral County, where an initial load of about four tonnes of material was crushed and had been processed through a local laboratory.

In parallel, analysis of a consignment of the same material was being treated and analysed in a laboratory in the UK to determine the optimum method for producing precious metals on a sustainable commercial basis, first results of which were expected to become available later in January.

In addition to the spoil heaps at Mineral Jackpot, Great Western said recent soil, rock and magnetometer surveys had doubled the known surface area of mineralisation and established previously-unknown connectivity between the different mines.

Great Western said it planned to follow the veins with new drilling as soon as an appropriate rig suitable for use in the mountainous terrain became available and weather conditions permitted.

The company said its claims in Mineral County covered about 17,000 acres.

A "substantial" inferred and indicated resource of copper had already been established, while numerous gold and silver prospects on the claims included spoil heaps for reprocessing as well as potential new veins to be drilled.

Great Western's first drilling targets in 2021 were planned for the Rock House group and the Olympic Gold project, both of which were "extensively" surveyed in 2020.

"Pouring first gold and silver is a significant event for your company and we are very pleased to have met our stated objective for 2020," said chairman Brian Hall.

"With the knowledge we have gained from this pilot exercise, which is still ongoing, and with first results from laboratory analysis due this month, we will be able to plan for commercial exploitation of precious metals as well as commence a new drill programme. We are well funded for our current requirements."

At 1439 GMT, shares in Great Western Mining Corporation were up 7.73% at 0.24p.

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