London BTC shares jump after it returns 143 g/t gold from Nevada rock chips - UPDATE

Shares of London BTC Company Ltd (LSE:BTC, OTCQB:VINZF) jumped 10% to 1.6p after it reported a rock chip sample grading 143.1 grams of gold per tonne from its Amonett-Frank project in Nevada, the highest grade returned so far across its US portfolio.

The main market-listed company, chaired by David Lenigas, has been building a gold exploration business alongside its bitcoin mining operations.

Two further samples from the same central working returned 12.62 grams and 1.22 grams per tonne.

The company cautioned that all the samples discussed are selective, carry a high potential for bias and should not be taken as representative of the wider mineralised structure.

Amonett-Frank comprises 18 unpatented claims over 372 acres in Pershing County, roughly 31 miles south of Winnemucca, and covers two historical shafts, two adits and seven prospect pits.

Gold was first discovered on the ground in 1933, with ore trucked from the site two years later, though there was no processing facility, which the company reads as evidence that only the richest material was taken.

That leaves about 1.5 kilometres of strike untested.

The project sits 2.6 miles from Kinross's Goldbanks deposit, which holds an endowment of 2.56 million ounces of gold, and shares the district with the Barrick and Newmont joint venture Nevada Gold Mines.

Separately, London BTC said it had re-run every previously announced high-grade result through conventional fire assay to check figures originally produced by PhotonAssay, a faster X-ray-based technique.

The results broadly matched, though three samples at the company's Teep project moved by more than 10%, with two upgraded and one downgraded, which the company attributes to coarse gold making grades erratic.

Verification allows PhotonAssay to be used for routine work, cutting turnaround times from three or four weeks to as little as three days.

The company has also engaged Dahrouge Geological Consulting, a North American firm with a Denver office, to run field operations and advise on federal and state permitting alongside existing adviser Schiehallion Consulting.

Hewie Rattray, chief executive, said the company was moving quickly to establish the scale of the mineralised system.

In the same announcement, London BTC said it would issue 72.8 million shares at nominal value to its employee benefit trust, equivalent to 16.67% of the enlarged share capital.

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