"Our drilling has now confirmed that the Rangefront D-4 discovery is not an isolated occurrence and is part of a much larger oxide gold system that currently extends over 1km to the north, merging with shallow mineralisation identified in historical drilling," president and CEO Cal Everett said. 

Drilling results released yesterday included 112.8m at 0.63g/t gold, 250m north of D-4.

Liberty said there were indications the mineralisation could merge with the Rangefront resource about 800m away and the company has renamed the area the Rangefront Focus Area (RFA)

"As we continue to aggressively drill this 1sq.km area centred on the D-4 discovery, we foresee the area growing into another large open-pit gold deposit, potentially rivalling the Discovery Zone in size," Everett said.

Liberty had announced an initial resource for Black Pine in July comprising an indicated 105 million tonnes at 0.51g/t gold for 1.7 million ounces and an inferred 31.2Mt at 0.37g/t for 370,000oz.

It plans to update the resource after drilling through to the end of February at both the RFA and Discovery Zone.

The expanded PEA would include recent metallurgical test work and Liberty noted engineering work so far had suggested the optimal economic cut-off grade for a future heap leach operation would likely be lower than the 0.2g/t reported in the July resource, requiring a revised estimated.

The company expects to receive US$1.25 million in cash this month under an option agreement with new Placer Dome Gold over its Kinsley Mountain gold project in Nevada.

It planned to use the funds to advance Black Pine and its Goldstrike oxide project in Utah.

It had $17.4 million in working capital at September 30.

Newmont holds 4.8%.

Liberty shares (TSX: LGD) closed up 1.6% to C$1.25 yesterday, a midpoint in its one-year range, valuing it at $358 million (US$285 million).