Alaska mining news update from Curt Freeman: Season looks to be busiest in 20 years

On the cusp of what promises to be one of the busiest mineral exploration and development seasons in the last 20 years, the mineral industry is madly preparing its personnel and equipment all across the state.

Despite the late season snows and unusually cool temperatures being experienced as this summary is being written, many of Alaska's exploration programs are either under way or will be sometime in early May. Competition for funds within and between companies remains fierce as projects in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia and South America vie for the funding limelight.

No less fierce is the competition for experienced people and equipment.

But, as the old-timer put it: "When the pony runs, you ride!"

Western Alaska

NovaGold Resources announced first quarter 2005 financial and operating results which included a summary of the final feasibility study under way at the Rock Creek project near Nome. The feasibility study is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2005. Project permitting remains on schedule and the necessary permits to start construction are anticipated by the end of the year. Current plans are for development of the Rock Creek deposit as part of an integrated Nome operation which includes the Rock Creek, Saddle and Big Hurrah lode deposits, and the Nome Gold sand-and-gravel deposits which collectively contain in excess of 3 million ounces of gold resource.

The plan going forward is to improve the sand-and-gravel operations by developing the gold bearing gravels in combination with production of higher value washed and screened sand-and-gravel materials. These activities along with the operations at Rock Creek and Big Hurrah should result in more than a hundred new jobs in the community of Nome and within the company's partners at Rock Creek, the Bering Straits Native Corp. and the Sitnasauk Native Corp.

Liberty Star Gold has completed venture capital financing of approximately $5 million that will be directed primarily at its Big Chunk copper gold project north of Iliamna. The company said it intends to concentrate on seven promising geochemical anomalies during the 2005 exploration program, including the White Sox prospect. White Sox is the area of the Big Chunk project that has to date shown the most promise for substantial mineralization.

Full Metal Minerals announced plans for several of its projects in western and southwestern Alaska.

Trenching and diamond drilling are planned for its 85 percent owned Ganes Creek gold project near McGrath. The program will concentrate on follow-up of soil and high grade gold in rock samples collected previously.

Drilling also is planned for Full Metal Minerals' Lucky Shot gold project north of Anchorage. Gold values up to 7.6 meters grading 0.25 ounces of gold per ton have been encountered on district-scale faults. Previous drilling results include 0.24 meters grading 12.9 ounces of gold per ton in the Coleman vein. A 10 to 15 hole program is slated to begin in June.

Efforts at the company's 100 percent owned Pebble South copper-gold project will include detailed induced polarization geophysical surveys designed to follow up and prioritize 11 previously identified soil and induced polarization anomalies discovered in 2004. Diamond drilling is scheduled as a follow-up to the 2005 induced polarization surveys.

The company plans to conduct an airborne magnetic and electromagnetic survey over its 100 percent owned Kamishak copper-gold project on the Alaska Peninsula. Diamond drilling is planned for later in the season on this project.

The company also is mounting a regional-scale mapping, geochemical sampling and prospecting program on two project areas on the Alaska Peninsula leased from the Aleut and Bristol Bay native corporations. Targets on these lands include the Pyramid copper-molybdenum prospect which contains resources of 125 million tons grading 0.4 percent copper and 0.03 percent molybdenum.

Other than that the company is not planning to do much in 2005.

Linux Gold Corp. announced that it has staked three projects near Granite Mountain in the Koyuk Mining District on the Seward Peninsula. Granite Mountain is known for placer gold and platinum group metal deposits and igneous hosted base-metal, precious metal and uranium prospects. The Kiwalik project is prospective for intrusive and/or extrusive-hosted deposits of lead, zinc, silver, copper, gold, and tin.

Previous work by the U.S. Geological Survey identified a large altered and mineralized area with anomalous concentrations of lead (over 20,000 parts per million), zinc (over 10,000 parts per million), copper (up to 1,000 parts per million), arsenic (over 10,000 parts per million), gold (up to 1 parts per million), silver (up to 300 parts per million), and tin (up to 500 parts per million). The base and precious metals appear to be zoned around the Quartz Creek quartz monzonite intrusive.

At the Peace River project on the east flank of Granite Mountain soil and rock sampling collected by USGS indicated anomalous concentrations of base metals including over 2,000 parts per million molybdenum obtained from a composite grab sample of veined syenite rubble. Pan concentrates collected from these headwater streams contained base metal sulfide minerals including bornite, as well as uranothorianite and gummite (up to 0.76 percent equivalent uranium).

At the Dime Creek project placer gold-platinum deposits on Dime Creek produced about 25,000 ounces of gold and platinum. The placer gold is unusually pure with a fineness of 960 and occurs with platinum alloys in a ratio ranging from 25:1 to 10:1 gold:platinum.

A small bucket-ladder dredge operated on the valley bottom from 1928 to 1941 while small open-cut and drifting operations continued on the benches until at least 1955. The placer prospects are considered to be highly prospective for significant additional placer reserves, as well as for lode sources of the placer gold and platinum.

Linux plans to conduct an airborne geophysical survey of the Granite Mountain area this year to map structure, rock contacts and potentially mineralized zones below the extensive tundra cover. A detailed geochemical and ridgeline mapping survey of the Kiwalik and Peace River projects is planned to further develop a geologic map and to identify potential drill targets. An initial placer examination of Dime Creek is also planned and will include mapping and panning of previous mine workings and adjacent virgin gravel, in addition to mapping and sampling of bedrock outcrop.

Alaska newcomer Garnet Point Resources has acquired an option on the Boulder Creek uranium project on the Seward Peninsula. The option, acquired from Full Metal Minerals, required Garnet Point to expend $2 million on exploration over four years, make cash payments of $90,000 and issue 500,000 shares of its stock to Full Metal. An additional 10 percent interest can be acquired by issuing an additional 500,000 shares and completing a positive feasibility study.

The 6,240 acre Boulder Creek property hosts Alaska's largest uranium deposit discovered to-date. It is a sandstone type 'roll-front' deposit with predominantly epigenetic mineralization. Uranium was leached from a Late Cretaceous alkalic quartz monzonite and deposited in roll front settings within Paleocene arkose, carbonaceous conglomerates and sandstones of the Boulder Creek Basin.

Previous operators completed 3,300 meters of core drilling in 52 holes and about 60 meters of near-surface split tube sampling in 21 holes, focused on the Discovery Zone area. Surface grab samples reported by previous operators returned up to 34 percent U3O8.

A resource estimate completed in 1981 by Houston Oil and Minerals outlined a resource of 1 million pounds of U3O8 in zones with an average grade of 0.27 percent U3O8 and an average thickness of 3 meters. The historic resource occurs within a 1,000 by 100 meter area with depths ranging from the surface to 120 meters within a northwest trending mineralized zone.

The companies are planning an airborne geophysical and radiometric survey to identify additional targets in the area, as well as surface soil and biogeochemical sampling to define drill targets. Welcome to Alaska Garnet Point!

Eastern Interior

Select Resources announced additional claim staking at its Shorty Creek copper-gold project near Livengood. The company recently staked approximately 5,300 acres of additional state of Alaska mining claims. The claims were staked to acquire areas that Select believes have the potential to host lode gold and copper mineralization similar to that under evaluation in the original 4,800 acre Shorty Creek claim block.

The new claims cover extensions to the geologic and related features suggestive of mineralization at Shorty Creek as well as nearby targets that, from Select's interpretation of available data, appear to be part of a more regionally extensive system exposed at Shorty Creek. Summer field programs are being planned.

Alaska Range

Nevada Star Resources announced results from 2004 exploration conducted by partner Anglo American Exploration USA on the MAN copper-nickel-platinum group element project in the central Alaska Range.

The $950,000 program focused on the major Fish Lake and Dunite Hill intrusions included 1,865 line miles of airborne magnetics-electromagnetics using Anglo American's proprietary Spectrem technology, limited Squid magnetic ground geophysical surveys, geological prospecting and mapping, drill core examination, soil sampling over the Fish Lake and Dunite Hill intrusions and completion of a structural interpretation of airborne magnetics.

Highlights of the program include detection of a strong conductor at the suspected base of the Fish Lake intrusion, grab rock samples from Tres Equis prospect that assayed 6.68 percent nickel, 1.02 percent copper, 0.42 percent cobalt and 1.4 grams palladium per tonne and collection of 2,922 soil samples that outlined additional prospective areas of the Fish Lake and Dunite Hill intrusive complexes.

Additional drilling and geophysical surveys are planned for 2005.

Golconda Resources said it shipped 2,020 kilograms of drill material for diamond testing from its Shulin Lake diamond project west of Talkeetna. The samples are derived from drilling two of the three sub-anomalies, which together are interpreted as forming a large volcanic center. Samples from the third anomaly, estimated to weigh about 500 kilograms, are due to be shipped for analysis shortly.

Northern Alaska

Little Squaw Gold Mining Co. announced that the state of Alaska recently filed a lawsuit against the United States to quiet title to the state's right of way for the historic Coldfoot-Chandalar Lake Trail. The state cited historic mining use as part of the reason for seeking the quiet title action. If the state prevails, it would clear the way for possible construction of an all weather road to the company's 15 square mile property.

Southeastern Alaska

The U.S. Forest Service has denied an appeal from Southeast Alaska Conservation Council on the Forest Service's previously issued approval of Coeur Alaska's Kensington mine project permits. The project still must obtain permits from other state and federal agencies prior to commencement of construction.