Summary - Alaska exploration season under way despite unseasonably cold spring

The last month has seen the 2006 summer season's first offering of new discoveries, new drilling results and new companies in Alaska. While a number of programs were delayed due to an unseasonably cold spring (bring on the global warming!), most programs have moved to Plan B, C or D and are now fully engaged under the midnight sun.

Western Alaska

Triex Minerals and Full Metal Minerals reported their planned diamond drilling program has begun on the Boulder Creek uranium project on the Seward Peninsula. The $1.1 million program includes 1,500 meters of drilling, airborne radiometrics surveys and geochemical sampling.

St. Andrew Goldfields said Alaskan Bill Burnett has been named mine manager at its Nixon Fork copper-gold mine north of McGrath. The 150 ton per day mine-mill complex is expected to resume commercial production in the third quarter of 2006 with annualized production at 45,000 ounces per year and a workforce of 45 people. Congratulations Bill!

Linux Gold reported additional analytical work on samples from its Granite Mt. project on the Seward Peninsula.

X-ray diffraction analyses from the Gossan-Weather Ridge trend confirm that gold and silver mineralization is coincident with variable argillic alteration characterized by the presence of alunite, andalusite and tourmaline.

Alteration is thought to be consistent with a volcanic-hosted high-sulfidation system.

Rock sample 2364 returned assay values of 177 parts per billion gold, 21.9 parts per million silver, 122 parts per million bismuth, 132 parts per million copper, 1791 parts per million lead, 193 parts per million antimony, and 1927 parts per million zinc.

This sample shows abundant disseminated chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite with crosscutting bismuthinite-quartz-sericite-pyrite veinlets.

Plans are in progress for exploration and drilling later in 2006.

TNR Gold said drilling had begun on its Shotgun gold project. A minimum of 3,500 meters of diamond drilling is planned for the Winchester and Shotgun zones. Initial drilling at Winchester will be focused on expansion of mineralization encountered in 2005 where hole DDH05-32 was collared in a medium grained felsic intrusive and returned 1.60 grams of gold per tonne over 14.3 meters from surface to the contact with Kuskokwim sediments.

Tonogold Resources and JV partner Calista Corp. said drilling had begun on its Nyac project. Initial efforts will be focused on the Bonanza prospect with additional soil sampling and drilling to follow on other parts of the project.

Full Metal Minerals and Metallica Resources announced commencement of their exploration programs on the Alaska Peninsula project.

Exploration will focus on porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum systems and will include geological mapping, geochemical sampling, ground-based geophysics and approximately 1,000 meters of diamond drilling on the Bee Creek porphyry prospect.

Previous exploration at Bee Creek included five shallow diamond drill holes completed in 1975, with one hole encountering 0.25 percent copper, 0.011 percent molybdenum and 0.062 grams of gold per tonne over its entire 152 meter length.

In 2005, field reconnaissance expanded the surface geochemical anomaly and identified several induced polarization chargeability highs that suggest potential for porphyry-hosted sulfide mineralization at depth.

Exploration also will be conducted n the Kawisgag prospect where 2005 mapping and sampling identified two areas of anomalous porphyry-hosted copper, gold and molybdenum mineralization within a much broader pyritic halo.

Historic sampling returned values ranging from trace metal content to 0.17 percent copper, 6.9 grams of gold per tonne and 0.02 percent molybdenum.

This year's program will include geologic mapping, geochemical sampling and ground-based geophysics to identify targets for future drilling.

Eastern Interior

AngloGold Ashanti said it has signed a letter of intent with Alaska newcomer International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. whereby the latter will acquire or option all of AngloGold's Alaskan mineral properties.

AngloGold Ashanti will sell 100 percent interest in the Livengood, West Pogo, Coffee Dome, Gilles, Caribou, and Blackshell properties, all in Interior Alaska while Tower Hill will issue19.99 percent of its issued shares to AngloGold.

Tower Hill must also spend a minimum of $10 million on future exploration activities on the projects.

In addition, AngloGold also granted Tower Hill the exclusive option to acquire a 60 percent interest in each of its LMS and Terra projects by incurring $3 million of exploration expenditure on each project within four years.

Once Tower Hill has earned its 60 percent interest in either project a new Joint Venture will be formed and AngloGold will have a period of 90 days in which to elect to increase its stake to 60 percent and become manager of the Joint Venture by expending an additional $4 million on each project during the subsequent two-year period.

Limited drilling has been conducted on the Livengood (138 meters of 1.1 grams of gold per tonne) and West Pogo projects while more advanced exploration and drilling has been conducted at Terra (located in the western Alaska Range) and LMS (located in Eastern Interior).

Newly released data from 2006 drilling at LMS includes 2.81 meters at 29.1 grams of gold per tonne and 2.8 meters at 7.4 grams of gold per tonne.

High grade gold in surface and drilling (2.0 meters at 21.4 grams of gold per tonne) at Terra is being followed up with additional drilling currently under way.

Welcome to Alaska International Tower Hill Mines Ltd!

Full Metal Minerals announced acquisition of the 40-Mile project from JV partner Doyon Ltd. Previous discoveries on the +800,000 acre property included multiple silver-lead-zinc, copper and gold showings.

The most advanced is the Lead Creek high-grade silver target, where limited diamond drilling included 9.6 meters averaging 724.6 grams of silver per tonne, 6.4 percent lead and 0.3 percent zinc, 15.4 meters averaging 370.1 grams of silver per tonne, 5.1 percent lead and 0.2 percent zinc and 1.9 meters averaging 357.7 grams of silver per tonne, 7.0 percent lead and 1.4 percent zinc.

In addition, the Fish and LWM occurrences are silver-lead-zinc prospects with high-grade values on surface that have never been drill tested.

Gossan at Fish Creek has been traced along strike over 1,500 meters and along 250 vertical meters of relief.

The average of 28 grab samples collected over 760 meters of strike was 11.6 percent zinc, 0.13 percent lead and 18.7 grams of silver per tonne.

At LWM a total of seven grab samples of gossan recovered from soil pits averaged 5.0 percent zinc, 11.85 percent lead, 0.5 percent copper and 105.4 grams of silver per tonne.

Planned exploration in 2006 includes 1,500 meters of diamond drilling, ground-based gravity geophysical surveys and reconnaissance mapping and sampling.

As for terms of the agreement, Full Metal will pay Doyon $325,000 over six years, make annual scholarship donations of $10,000 per year and make exploration expenditures totaling $3,850,000.

At any time, Full Metal may enter into one or more Mining Leases on specific areas within the property which would require advanced royalty payments of $100,000 per year during year's one through five, increasing to $250,000 per year prior to commencing commercial production.

Upon commencement of Commercial Production, Full Metal would pay to Doyon a precious metals production royalty or net profits interest, or both.

Alaska Range

Full Metal Minerals reported it has acquired lands on the Golddigger project in the Talkeetna Mountains.

The project occurs within a large Tertiary bimodal volcanic field and includes the old King and Queen Prospect where epithermal gold is associated with an intensely clay-altered felsic dome.

Gold mineralization was discovered in 1918 when Kennecott Mining obtained an assay of 211.5 grams of gold per tonne and 494.5 grams of silver per tonne from the project.

Anomalous gold values from altered felsic volcanic rocks were also identified.

Surface sampling by the property owner in recent years includes 1.8 grams of gold per tonne over 17.7 meters within a trench at the top of the felsic dome.

Other prospects in the area staked by Full Metal include the Toklat prospect, which hosts anomalous gold, silver and mercury values associated with high-level veins and silicification.

Historic exploration by Anaconda in the 1980's identified silicified units hosting gold values ranging from 0.3 to 2.2 grams of gold per tonne, 10 to 30 grams of silver per tonne, and 0.5 percent mercury with visible cinnabar within altered volcanic rocks and limestone.

At the Talkeetna prospect a shear zone hosts gold-silver and copper mineralization and sampling by the USGS in 1986 included a 2.3 meter chip sample that averaged 2.5 percent copper and 5.4 grams of silver per tonne.

Full Metal has entered into an agreement to acquire a 100 percent interest in the King and Queen prospect from well known Alaska geologist Ben Porterfield.

Full Metal will make cash payments including US$25,000 upon signing, increasing to $125,000 in 2010, with US$125,000 annual payments until the commencement of commercial production.

Full Metal will pay Porterfield a 3 percent net smelter returns royalty from all mineral products upon commencement of commercial production.

Full Metal can purchase 1 percent of the royalty for a one-time cash payment of $1 million, and an additional 1 percent for $3 million.

Northern Alaska

Little Squaw Gold Mining reported that an unusually late, cold spring has delayed startup of drilling and other ground work at its Little Squaw gold project in the southern Brooks Range. Drilling start-up is expected in July.

Silverado Gold said it has acquired additional claims increasing the total holdings to more than 11 square miles at its Nolan gold project in the southern Brooks Range. The company also reported that summer alluvial gold operations are nearing startup and that sampling of several areas of the Swede Channel have returned substantial amounts of coarse gold. A one-third cubic yard sample from the Swede Channel deposit yielded 11.64 troy ounces of gold and six areas in known high grade portions of the property yielded grades ranging from nil to 29.52 ounces of gold per cubic yard and averaged 12.36 ounces of gold per cubic yard.

Southeastern Alaska

Bravo Venture Group Inc. said exploration and drilling have commenced at its Woewodski Island project in Southeast Alaska.

Exploration will include closely spaced soil sampling and hand-trenching at the high-grade Blue Quartz gold prospect on the western side of the island and "scout" drilling at the East Lake volcanogenic massive sulfide prospect in the central part of the island.

Drilling at East Lake will target induced polarization geophysical anomalies in an area where historic drilling returned 3.3 meters grading 4.2 grams of gold per tonne and 4.68 percent zinc.

Previous exploration on the prospect has identified broad intervals of base-metal and precious-metal enriched mineralization hosted in well-preserved Late Triassic volcanic and argillite rocks.

Niblack Mining Corp. said exploration is underway on the Niblack volcanogenic massive sulfide property in southeast Alaska.

The first phase of the 2006 exploration program includes 6,500 meters of diamond drilling on the Lookout zone.

The 2005 drilling on this zone returned the longest mineralized interval to date which contained three distinct massive sulfide lenses separated by stringer and disseminated mineralization.

This interval graded 2.39 grams of gold per tonne, 47 grams of silver per tonne, 1.67 percent copper and 4.05 percent zinc over 225.3 feet including 46.3 feet grading 4.55 grams of gold per tonne, 71 grams of silver per tonne, 3.05 percent copper, and 7.79 percent zinc.

In addition, the company plans to conduct limited exploration drilling at the Niblack Mine, Dama, Trio and Mammoth zones.

Other

On a more personal note, the Alaska Mining Hall of Fame is in the process of gathering information on planned inductees. As a board member, I have taken on the task of gathering information on the life and times of Ernest (Ernie) Wolff, one of Alaska's most famous mining engineers. Anyone out there who has a story they would like to share about Ernie, please send it to me via email or fax along with your name and association with Ernie.