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Revival Gold Inc. (OTCQX: RVLGF, TSXV: RVG) has released assay results from the first thirteen holes drilled this year at its Mercur Gold Project in Utah. Two of those holes returned notable intercepts: one came in at 1.65 grams per tonne of gold over a 30.5 meter stretch, and another at 0.92 grams per tonne over the same length. Early results like these are typically viewed as a first indicator of how a drilling program is likely to progress over the rest of the year To put those numbers in context, a grade of 1 gram per tonne might sound modest, but for a heap leach gold operation, where ore is stacked and treated with a mild chemical solution rather than processed in a mill, grades in that range over a long interval can be commercially attractive. That is the type of operation Mercur is designed to become.
So far this season, Revival Gold has completed 7,400 meters across 74 holes, putting it a bit more than a third of the way through a planned 18,000 meter program for the year. Two drill rigs are currently working the Main Mercur area, focused on converting existing resource estimates into more reliable categories and refining engineering plans, and two additional rigs are expected to join later this summer, bringing the total to four.
What makes the South Mercur results particularly notable is where the mineralization sits. According to the company, the zones of gold bearing rock that show potential for heap leach processing extend below the boundary of the open pit outlined in last year’s Preliminary Economic Assessment, a technical study prepared by outside engineering firms that lays out a project’s likely size, cost and economics. In plain terms, there may be more recoverable gold at Mercur than the current mine plan accounts for, which is the kind of finding that can eventually lead to a bigger or longer lived operation if it holds up across further drilling.
Hugh Agro, the company’s President and CEO, framed the results as evidence that the project still has room to grow. He also pointed to the practical side of scaling up: building roads, expanding site facilities, and adding staff to support the jump from two rigs to four, groundwork that determines whether a company can execute an ambitious drilling calendar rather than just announce one.
The bigger goal behind this year’s program is a Preliminary Feasibility Study, a more detailed and rigorous economic analysis than the earlier assessment, which the company is targeting for completion by the end of the first quarter of 2027. Roughly 8,500 meters of this year’s drilling is aimed specifically at upgrading resources from the “inferred” category, essentially an early-stage estimate, into the more confident “measured and indicated” categories that a feasibility study requires. Additional meters are earmarked for expanding the resource further and for geotechnical and hydrological work needed before any mine construction could begin.
Revival Gold describes itself as one of the larger pure gold mine developers in the U.S., with Mercur in Utah as its flagship project and further exploration underway at its Beartrack Arnett project in Idaho. The company is based in Toronto, with its U.S. operations run out of Salmon, Idaho.
None of this guarantees Mercur becomes a mine. Drilling results, even encouraging ones, are only pieces of a much longer development process that includes permitting, financing and further technical study. But for a project moving toward a feasibility study within the next year, early results that extend known mineralization beyond the current mine plan are the sort of detail worth watching as the rest of this year’s drilling program unfolds.
