The programme was designed to test certain waste areas in the proposed pit and CEO Ian Klassen said it was a success.

"Currently, the GMV exploration team is assessing future drill targets which will be designed to increase the conceived pit life by several years of production," he said.

The company had also last month announced it had discovered a new gold target at Little Hat Mountain, 900m south of Mexican Hat.

Mexican Hat has an inferred 32.9 million tonnes at 0.616g/t for 651,000 ounces.

The company released what it described as a positive preliminary economic assessment for the project in late 2018, however the news saw its share price tumble almost 37% at the time to 14.5c.

It is planning to update the PEA, which had outlined a 5-year mine with initial capex of US$130.1 million, peak annual production of 118,000oz, an after-tax NPV (5% discount) of $77.8 million and IRR of 29.1%, using a $1,300/oz gold price.

The company had about C$379,000 (US$288,000) in working capital at March 31, then raised more than $854,000 (US$650,000) in an upsized placement at 11c per unit in May.

The proceeds were earmarked to advance exploration at Mexican Hat and for general working capital.

GMV said the area had seen extensive exploration by Placer Dome about 30 years ago.

Its share price has recovered from a low of C7c in December and has doubled so far this year, last trading at 18c to capitalise it at $7.7 million (US$5.9 million).