The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
TSX-V: FVL
President and CEO: Kristina Walcott
Chief Financial Officer: Gordon Steblin
Vice President, Exploration and Development: Alvin Jackson
Freegold Ventures Ltd. - a junior focused on gold exploration in Alaska - got a jump on the 2011 exploration season with the February start of a 6,166-meter phase-1 drill program at its Golden Summit project in the Fairbanks Mining District.
The project is host to a number of gold occurrences that are similar in age and style to the multimillion-ounce intrusion found at Kinross Gold Corp.'s Fort Knox Mine about 8 kilometers (5 miles) to the south.
A resource completed for Golden Summit in March estimates the project's Dolphin zone contains and indicated resource of 7.79 million metric tons averaging 0.695 grams per metric ton and an inferred resource of 27.01 million metric tons averaging 0.606 g/t, both at a 0.30 g/t gold cut-off.
The 27 holes of the phase-1 program were designed to upgrade and expand this resource.
The best hole reported from the program was GSDC-11-47, which cut 516.2 meters averaging 0.52 g/t gold, including 149.2 meters averaging 1.03 g/t gold.
Freegold launched a phase-2 drill program at Golden Summit in August.
One of the areas to be evaluated is the Goose Creek area, where historical drilling intersected 4 g/t gold over 48 meters and 29 g/t silver over 56 meters.
No drilling has been completed in this particular area since 1997.
The Vinasale gold project - found on the northern end of the Kuskokwim Gold Belt about 26 kilometers (16 miles) south of McGrath - was another key target of Freegold's 2011 exploration.
An NI 43-101 resource calculated in March outlines an inferred resource at Vinasale of 37.3 million metric tons averaging 1.11 g/t gold at a cut-off of 0.5 g/t.
A 3,500-meter drill program that began in June is aimed at upgrading and this 1.33-million-ounce gold resource hosted in the property's Central zone.
Highlights from the 12 holes drilled in 2011include: Hole VM11-08 cut 66.8 meters averaging 1.06 g/t gold; VM11-09 cut 115.8 meters averaging 1.48 g/t gold; and VM11-12 cut 57.5 meters averaging 3.94 g/t gold.
The company said the 300-meter-by-400-meter area that hosts the resource remains open in three directions and at depth.
An induced polarization survey conducted at Vinasale this summer outlined a significant geophysical anomaly was defined in the North East zone where limited previous drilling has indicated mineralization of similar character to the Central Zone about 1,200 meters southwest.
The company said this area will be the focus of a planned 10,000-meter drill program in 2012.
Freegold also conducted a small exploration program at its 19,000-acre Rob gold project located 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd.'s Pogo gold mine.
The program involved mapping, sampling, and a diamond drill program to expand upon previously intersected high-grade zones and to test other strong geochemical anomalies over bulk-tonnage targets which have not been tested to date.
The targets tested in 2011 include the Michigan zone, where grab samples returned values up to 971 grams per metric ton gold.
Previous prospecting in the Michigan area identified a large stockwork vein system over a 1,070-by-760-meter area.
Other target areas include the Blue Lead area where sampling of the vein zone returned values of up to 871 g/t gold.
Drilling at the Grey Lead Zone in 2007/2008 returned several high-grade intercepts including 5.3 meters grading 15.8 g/t; 5.7 meters grading 19.2 g/t; and 3.4 meters grading 43.2 g/t gold.
Hilltop, a new prospect located 183 meters southeast of the Grey Lead, is another target of the 2011 exploration.
Grab samples from the target returned values of18.7 g/t gold with elevated levels of bismuth and tellurium similar to that seen in the Grey Lead Vein.
Historical sampling in this area returned values of up to 101 g/t gold.
Cash and Short-term Deposits: C$3.51 million (June 30, 2011) (C$3.9 million; raised after June 30)
Working Capital: C$1.81 million (June 30, 2011)
Market Capitalization: C$42.91 million (Sept. 20, 2011)
PO Box 10351, Suite 888 - 700 West Georgia St.
Vancouver, B.C., Canada V7Y 1G5
Ph: 604-662-7307 Fax: 604-662-3791
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