Fairchild Gold Corp. (TSXV: FAIR; Germany: Y4Y) has reported receipt of an updated technical report in accordance with Canadian NI 43-101 standards for its Golden Arrow gold and silver project in Nevada. The report was prepared by RESPEC (Reno, Nevada) and, according to the company, is a key building block for formally completing the previously announced acquisition of the property. For Fairchild Gold, however, the document is far more than a box-ticking exercise: it consolidates resource data, modelling assumptions and price sensitivity within a standardized framework and is intended to serve as the basis for the next development steps.
Fairchild Gold: Golden Arrow resources with gold and silver
The report sets out the total gold and silver resources for Golden Arrow in the Measured, Indicated and Inferred categories – at a deemed gold price of just 3,000 USD per ounce, though. In that case, Fairchild Gold reports, the Measured category has 2,198,000 tonnes grading 0.025 oz Au/ton, equivalent to around 0.86 g/t Au, and 54,000 ounces of contained gold. For silver, 0.37 oz Ag/ton and 822,000 ounces of silver are reported. In the Indicated category, Golden Arrow comprises 12,897,000 tonnes at 0.019 oz Au/ton (≈ 0.65 g/t Au) with 241,000 ounces of gold, as well as 0.27 oz Ag/ton and 3,504,000 ounces of silver.
Combined as Measured & Indicated, this results in a tonnage of 15,376,000 tons at 0.019 oz Au/ton (≈ 0.65 g/t Au) and 296,000 ounces of gold. The silver grade is stated as 0.28 oz Ag/ton and 4,362,000 ounces. The Inferred resource is reported at 8,648,000 tons. The gold grade is 0.007 oz Au/ton (≈ 0.24 g/t Au) with 60,000 ounces of gold; for silver, the report cites 0.27 oz Ag/ton and 2,322,000 ounces.
For the cut-off—only above this grade is existing gold included in the resource calculation—Fairchild Gold cites variable cut-off grades, based in the report on 0.005 oz AuEq/ton for oxide material and 0.006 oz AuEq/ton for sulphide material.
Price sensitivity: What changes at US$2,400 to US$3,900 per ounce
In addition to the base tables, the report presents a sensitivity analysis in which resources are reported at a uniform cut-off of 0.005 oz AuEq/ton within pits optimized for various gold price assumptions. According to the report, the tables are not directly comparable with the resources at variable cut-offs, as the methodology and the aggregation of oxide and sulphide material differ.
At US$2,400 per ounce, Measured & Indicated resources are stated at 13,247,000 tons at 0.020 oz Au/ton (≈ 0.69 g/t Au) and 264,000 ounces of gold. In the Inferred category, 6,165,000 tonnes at 0.007 oz Au/ton (≈ 0.24 g/t Au) with 43,000 ounces of gold are reported.
In the base sensitivity case at US$3,000, 15,376,000 tonnes of Measured & Indicated at 0.019 oz Au/ton (≈ 0.65 g/t Au) and 296,000 ounces of gold are reported; in the Inferred category, this presentation shows 9,402,000 tonnes at 0.007 oz Au/ton (≈ 0.24 g/t Au) with 61,000 ounces of gold. Contained silver then totals 4.365 million ounces Measured & Indicated and 2.463 million ounces Inferred. As mentioned, the report cites 0.27 oz Ag/ton and 2,322,000 ounces for silver.
At higher price assumptions, the tonnages tabulated in the optimized pits increase significantly again. For US$3,900, for example, the sensitivity shows 16,427,000 tonnes Measured & Indicated (0.019 oz Au/ton ≈ 0.65 g/t Au; 308,000 ounces of gold) as well as 11,068,000 tonnes Inferred (0.006 oz Au/ton ≈ 0.21 g/t Au; 71,000 ounces of gold). Silver numbers also rise markedly, reaching 4.586 million ounces Measured & Indicated and 2.9 million ounces Inferred.
The report also emphasizes that such higher price cases merely demonstrate sensitivity to fluctuations in the gold price, and that Fairchild Gold does not want to rely on future price increases as a premise.
After the acquisition: PEA, metallurgy focus and bulk sampling as a work package
After completing the acquisition, Fairchild Gold intends to initiate several steps. First, a PEA (Preliminary Economic Assessment) is to be launched, with a particular focus on metallurgy. Second, the company plans bulk sampling to better understand a notable finding from historical column tests: calculated head grades of 0.039 to 0.077 oz Au/ton were reported. Converted, this corresponds to around 1.34 to 2.64 g/t Au—significantly higher than the average gold grades reported in the current resource model. Fairchild Gold aims to understand why these historical tests were higher and, at the same time, to clarify through further metallurgical work what influence gold grade and sulphide content have on heap-leach recoveries.
Third, Fairchild Gold announces a systematic review and prioritization of its exploration target inventory. Executive Chairman Nikolas Perrault (CFA) positions the submitted Technical Report as the basis for completing the acquisition quickly and then advancing Golden Arrow technically toward mine development.
However, Fairchild Gold is not focusing solely on Golden Arrow; it also holds the Nevada Titan project (Goodsprings mining district; historical copper-gold-PGE occurrences) as well as Carlin Queen, a gold-silver project at the intersection of the Carlin and Midas-Hollister gold trends. With the updated NI 43-101 report, a consolidated, formal data framework is now in place that structures Golden Arrow as the next workstream within this pipeline.
