Gold Standard Ventures' aggressive 2017 drill program has the potential to substantially increase resources at its Nevada project, and with Goldcorp and OceanaGold owning substantial percentages of the company, Gold Standard has already caught the eye of producers.

Gold Standard Ventures Corp. (GSV:TSX.V; GSV:NYSE) announced last month an exploration program for 2017 at its 100%-owned Railroad-Pinion project in the Carlin Trend in Nevada. The program includes up to 48,000 meters of reverse-circulation drilling and core drilling in 117 holes. According to the company, the program will aggressively drill the North Dark Star gold discovery, drill to expand known resources at Dark Star and Pinion, and drill to test high-value targets.

Jonathan Awde, CEO of Gold Standard stated: "Railroad-Pinion has now become a truly district-scale play with multiple deposits of different types. Each year, we set out to find the limits of the gold systems we have discovered and each year we end up with new opportunities that exceed our expectations. We think 2017 will be no different. We believe we have found the right balance between expanding and advancing resources at known deposits and continuing to evaluate the many new targets that have emerged over the past year. This should be a very exciting next few months."

Gold Standard's 2016 successful drill program connected North Dark Star gold deposit and the main Dark Star deposit, discovered a western extension of the high-grade Dark Star mineralization, and found a northern extension of the high-grade North Bullion Deposit. These discoveries offer the possibility of a large-scale deposit. Drilling also highlighted potential at new prospects Sentinel and Irene.

Michael Gray of Macquarie Research noted that the Sentinel discovery is significant because "i) it could expand the overall Pinion deposit toward critical mass for mine development; ii) it opens up yet another stratigraphic package for exploration; and iii) supports our "multiple targets–district potential" thesis that large systems are at play."

Brien Lundin in Gold Newsletter noted that the 2017 drill program "is an ambitious program and one I expect to add significant value to this project and this company. Given the sizable amount of smart money that Gold Standard has attracted to this project, the upside potential here continues to be substantial. . .the 2017 drill program should go a long way toward telling us just how much size potential this project has."

Goldcorp Inc. (G:TSX; GG:NYSE) in February 2016 purchased 9.9% of Gold Standard Ventures, and OceanaGold Corp. (OGC:TSX; OGC:ASX) (OCANF) exercised its right to increase its share of Gold Standard Ventures to 19.9%.

"More magic could well await us as the 2017 drill program progresses, with the potential of some developments on the M&A front," Lundin concluded.