On December 1, 2009, Emergent announced it had signed a Lease with an Option to Purchase Agreement with Nevada Sunrise LLC for the Buckskin Rawhide East Property ("BRE" or the "Property").  At that time, the Property consisted of 46 unpatented mineral claims and was owned by Nevada Sunrise LLC (75%) with a 25% carried interest owned by the estate of Maurice and Lorraine Castagne.   On May 11, 2011, the Company staked an additional six claims increasing the Property size to 52 unpatented claims.

 

In 2012 and 2013, Rawhide Mining LLC ("RMC") completed a series of private placements into Emergent for a total of US$1.0 million.  Part of the private placements were used to acquire the Nevada Sunrise and Castagne interests in the Property, as announced on July 28, 2014.  On August 21, 2014, Emergent announced it had leased BRE to RMC, which owns the adjacent Rawhide MIne (aka Denton Rawhide Mine).  The terms of the lease are as follows:

​

• The lease term is 20 years, with an effective date of June 1, 2013.

• Advance royalty payments of $10,000 per year are due on each anniversary of the lease agreement.

• During the term of the lease, RMC will pay the claim fees and keep the property in good standing.

• RMC will conduct US$250,000 in exploration activities by the end of Year 1 (completed).

• RMC will conduce US$500,000 in exploration activities by the end of year 3 (partially done, remainder paid to Emergent in cash to make up commitment).

• RMC will have the option of earning 100% interest in the Property by bringing it into commercial production during the term of the lease.

• Upon bringing the Property into commercial production, RMC will make "Bonus Payments" to Emergent of US$15 per ounce of gold produced when the gold price is between US$1,200 and US$1,799 per ounce and US$20 per ounce of gold when the gold price is $1,800 per ounce or greater.

​

On January 10, 2013, RMC also acquired the Regent Property from Pilot Gold Corporation (now Liberty Gold Corp.), consolidating the Rawhide Mine, BRE, and Regent Property into one large property.  Hence, the BRE Property became an inlying claim block to Rawhide MIine.  Rawhide Mine has produced over 1.8 million ounces of gold and 14.9 million ounces of silver from 1990 through 2019 (source:  Nevada Bureau of Mines Special Publication).  Note that no mineral resources and mineral reserves have yet been delineated on the BRE Property and proximity to Rawhide Mine does not guarantee exploration success.

​

In 2018, RMC resurveyed the claims at BRE to ensure their validity and to eliminate overlap between various claims.  This resulted in the reduction of claims to 48 unpatented claims.

​​

The BRE Property is a volcanic-hosted, structurally controlled, epithermal gold-silver target situated in the Walker Lane gold belt of western Nevada. The Walker Lane is a regional shear zone and known gold trend that has hosted large and small historic and recent gold-silver mines in western Nevada, including mines of the Comstock Lode, Tonopah District, and Rawhide District.   Property geology is similar to Rawhide Mien, with structures from the Walker Lane and Basin and Range faulting, along with lithologic unites and structures of the Rawhide volcanic center.

​

Four main mineralized targets have been identified from historic exploration work including:

 

• Toiyabe

• Black Eagle

• Chicago Mountain

• North Buckskin Mountain  

​

Gold was originally discovered on the BRE claims in the year 1906.  A gold rush in the area led to a number of mining claims being staked, ultimately forming the Regent Mining District (now known as the Rawhide Mining District).  The gold rush led to the formation of the town of Rawhide, which grew to a population of 7,000 by 1908 but dropped to 500 by the year 1910.  By the 1940’s, the town was essentially abandoned. 

​​

The Rawhide District was active with mining from 1908 to 1920, during which time 46,218 fine ounces of gold and 685,901 fine ounces of silver were produced from the historic mines.  During this period, historic mining activity occurred on the Property and a number of shafts, adits, and stopes were excavated.  No production records appear to exist from these operations.  From 1921 through 1935, only 2,815 fine ounces of gold and 51,463 fine ounces of silver were produced from the Rawhide Mining District (Vanderburg, 1937).

 

Modern exploration in the Rawhide area, including the BRE Property, appears to have begun in 1982. Exploration activities on the Property consisted of geologic and alteration mapping, surface rock chip geochemical sampling, and reverse circulation drilling, most of which was done by Kennecott Exploration Company.  At that time, Kennecott was exploring the entire Rawhide District, eventually discovering and developing the Rawhide Mine. Other companies also conducted reconnaissance exploration in the area.

​

Kennecott drilled 84 RC drill holes totaling 39,820 feet on BRE in the 1990’s. This drilling was done before the implementation of NI 43-101 and CIM Standards for Disclosure.  It provides a useful guide for current exploration by the Company’s geologists.  Work done by Kennecott focused on exploration for bulk disseminated mineralized targets with the potential to generate satellite resources that might ultimately be processed at the Rawhide Mine facilities, subject to exploration success, permitting and other factors.   ​​​

Emergent's exploration between 2009 and 2012 focused on two main targets, the Black Eagle Target (including the Black Eagle High Grade Vein Zone) and the Chicago Mountain Bulk Disseminated Target.  In 2011, Emergent sampled both of these targets.  Emergent's work at Chicago Mountain was designed to develop a better understanding of the mineralized structures in that area.

 

Emergent's work also focused on the Black Eagle Fault, a north-trending, steep dipping structure typically ten feet in width situated on the west side of Emgold’s claim block. The surrounding volcanic bedrock consists of latite porphyry flows and a hydrothermal breccia dike.  These dikes were mapped by Kennecott elsewhere on the Property and were termed vent breccia.  The vent breccias appear to be associated with mineralized structures. The gold-silver mineralization is related to the fault and occurs over a measured strike length of 1,100 feet (and open to extension).  Hydrothermal alteration is prominent along the structure.

 

Within this fault structure, Emgold identified the Black Eagle High-Grade Zone, which consists of fault gouge, quartz veins, and silicified wall rocks with associated fracture coatings of iron-manganese oxides. This target is currently 360 feet in strike length, open to extension, and contains high-grade gold. It is interpreted to be a fault segment of permeable gouge that was injected with mineralized hydrothermal fluids.

​

In 2013, RMC drilled 22 RC drill holes totaling 7,100 ft. in the Chicago Mountain Target.  Drilling confirmed mineralization of a similar nature and grade to historic drilling in this target that was conducted by Kennecott in the year 2000 (15 holes with 10 holes in the mineralized zone).  Additional drilling is needed prior to any mineral resources or mining reserves being defined in this area.

​

In 2018, RMC completed a Plan of Operations and Environmental Assessment to expand its operations and mine from the Regent deposit located on the Regent Property.  The BRE Property was also included in the Environmental Assessment, which allows exploration activities to occur on the Property subject to completion of certain site-specific environmental studies.   In 2019, RMC commenced production from the Regent Pit.