The company said the latest drill results from its Scorpion rig, made for Nevada conditions, coupled with earlier results, had established that the lateral extent of the gold-in-groundwater footprint at Kelly Creek was consistent with the presence of a large, robust, mineralised system.

The combined results defined two clusters of >0.1g/t gold in bedrock, over areas of at least 700m x 300m and 1,000m x 600m, which Nevada Exploration said was strong evidence the hydrothermal system was mineralised over a larger area than previously known.

"Being the first to open-up Nevada's covered basins to systematic gold exploration, we are not looking for one to two million ounce deposits, we are on the hunt for five to 10 million ounce deposits, and bigger," CEO Wade Hodges said.

"This is what systematic exploration looks like, and this is how big deposits are found."

A deeper drilling programme is being planned.

The company had C$287,448 (US$231,500) in working capital at the end of October then raised $1.1 million (US$880,000) in a non-brokered private placement in November to advance exploration.

Nevada Exploration shares rose 10.94% yesterday to 35.5c, capitalising it around $19.7 million (US$15.8 million).