The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Australian Mineral Fields agrees to spend $3 million to explore high-grade gold property near Tok; plans to apply Down Under model
Australian Mineral Fields Ltd. has signed an agreement with Alaska-based Tushtena Resources Inc. that grants the Perth-based junior the right to acquire up to an 85 percent stake in the Tushtena gold project 20 miles west-southwest of Tok.
The Australian junior can earn 80 percent interest in the Tushtena project by spending $3 million within five years. The company also can increase its stake to 85 percent by completing a bankable feasibility study.
Australian Mineral has agreed to spend a minimum of C$500,000 per year in exploration. In addition, the junior made a cash payment of C$100,000 to Tushtena Resources, and has agreed to make annual payments of C$100,000 to the privately owned Alaska company, until Australian Mineral has earned 80 percent of the project.
Due diligence
After signing the deal in April, Australian Mineral Fields began re-sampling core from historic drilling on the property. In addition to sampling previously reported intersects, the company also tested sections of core that apparently were not tested in the past.
In a report on its first batch of due-diligence performed over the summer, Australian Mineral said the re-sampling has confirmed - and in some cases upgraded, reported intersections from the historic drilling. The company also reported that the previously un-sampled sections of the core returned additional intersections.
Assay results from the re-sampling of hole AR-4, drilled in 1986, revealed an intercept of 9.5 feet with an average grade of 24.58 grams of gold per metric ton. The re-sampling of hole AR-9 returned a 6-foot intersection with an average grade of 12.96 g/t gold.
The company also intersected 4 feet of mineralization in hole AR-7 grading 2.19 g/t gold, which had not previously been sampled. These discoveries lead AMF to believe the mineralization may be better and more widespread than previously thought.
Why Australian Mineral Fields?
Australian Mineral Fields is led by a group of mining industry veterans with experience working all over the world. Many of these individuals built distinguished careers primarily with Placer Dome, now a part of Barrick Gold Corp., including company Chairman John Loney, and President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Willson.
The aggressive junior says its team of mineral explorers has considerable expertise in integrating and applying a range of advanced three-dimensional and 4-D (time) modeling, simulation and data analysis technologies that can dramatically accelerate the exploration process while reducing risks and costs.
The extent and sophistication of the integration allows the team to evaluate, compare and interpret the widest possible range of data more rigorously, rapidly and precisely than ever before. The exploration team's advanced skills as well as integrated software applications constitute a competitive edge, the company said.
Why Alaska?
Australian Mineral has seven exploration projects in Western Australia. The Tushtena property in Alaska marks the company's second overseas project. The first project was a grassroots exploration project in eastern Canada.
Australian Mineral said it chose to look to Alaska for many of the same reasons it focuses on Western Australia; a high degree of prospectivity, mining friendly legislation and good infrastructure.
In developing the exploration model for the projects of Western Australia, the company said it recognized that what it learned could be applied elsewhere in the world. Two areas where Australian Mineral believes this to be true include the Grenville Province of eastern Canada and Alaska.
Australian Mineral said it also is able to use personnel experienced in Alaska, minimizing diversion of focus from Australian projects.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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