Pershing Gold Corp. a miner headquartered in Lakewood, Colo., has initiated its 2018 drilling program at Relief Canyon mine in northeastern Nevada.

The 2018 program is focusing on four target areas: the West Step-out area, the North East Pit, the Main Zone, and the South East Lightbulb Pit.

A second drill is expected to be on-site next week. The budget for the 2018 drilling program is approximately $2.9 million. An estimated $1 million of this budget is expected to be spent on drilling initial targets, with $1.9 million allocated for follow-up drilling based on these results.

Drilling is being conducted by Idea Drilling from Elko.