Solitario Resources (NYSE:XPL) has announced the discovery of multiple high-grade gold zones at its Golden Crest project, driving its share price to the highest point in over three years. As geopolitical instabilities push the price of gold higher, promising domestic projects are gaining interest and value.
"These are among the highest-grade samples collected during a first pass sampling program at a newly discovered target zone in the history of Golden Crest," said Chris Herald, CEO of Solitario Resources.
"There is a high probability that these three zones may coalesce into a single massive zone with additional work. We look forward to our drilling program starting in the first part of June," he said.
The newly discovered zones, Holland, Top Dollar, and Wildcat, yielded remarkable gold values of 57.9, 50.2, 42.7, 32.3, and 21.1 grams per ton from reconnaissance rock sampling. These zones, found within an area of approximately 4 square kilometers between the Downpour and Sleeping Beauty targets, are all at the surface.
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These zones lie on Solitario's new Ponderosa Plan of Operations (POO) in the easternmost portion of the Golden Crest property, where low-impact core drilling will test these promising gold targets.
Solitario Resources acquired the Golden Crest project in August 2021, securing a significant land position in a historically productive gold district. The district, which includes the legendary Homestake Mine, has seen multiple mines contribute to its gold output. Homestake, a supergiant gold deposit, produced over 42 million ounces of gold from 1876 to 2001, making it one of North America's largest individual gold deposits.
Solitario controls all four likely bedrock sources identified through limited exploration by Homestake Mining Company in the 1980s and 1990s. These new targets are outside the historically mined zone – found along the western and southwestern extensions of the Homestake-Wharf mining district. Nowadays, they hold the potential to expand Solitario's gold resources significantly.
The Golden Crest project benefits from its location in a safe, mining-friendly jurisdiction with developed infrastructure and a skilled workforce. With a record of continuous gold mining spanning over 145 years, the region is well-positioned to support Solitario's exploration efforts, scheduled to continue in June.
Shares of XPL soared over 10% on the news. The stock is up 64% year-to-date.
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