The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
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Chairman: Thomas Kaplan
President and CEO: Gregory Lang
Senior Advisor to President: Gil Leathley
With its attention focused primarily on advancing Donlin Gold through the permitting process, Novagold Resources Ltd. dialed back its exploration in 2014.
In January, the company released results from a 2013 drill program focused on assessing the extent of the recently discovered Legacy zone at its 50 percent owned Galore Creek copper-gold project in northwestern British Columbia.
This program included 22 infill and exploration holes totaling 11,649-meters.
Legacy was directly targeted with 9,157 meters of this drilling, the remaining 2,492 meters was conducted to better understand geological features that could influence the mineralization in Legacy, identify mineralization trends, and explore possible extensions of known mineralized zones adjacent to the zone.
The most significant intersections from the drilling in the Legacy zone were: GC13-0889 cut 129 meters grading 0.72 percent copper, 0.17 grams per metric ton gold and 7.2 g/t silver; GC13-0890 cut 117 meters grading 0.63 percent copper, 0.16 g/t gold and 8.3 g/t silver; GC13-0895 cut 135 meters grading 1.5 percent copper, 0.34 g/t gold and 13.2 g/t silver, and a further 84 meters grading 0.78 percent copper, 0.10 g/t gold and 8.8 g/t silver; and GC13-0901 cut 58 meters grading 0.87 percent copper, 0.20 g/t gold and 12.6 g/t silver.
The 2013 program increased the drill density to a level required to support an inferred resource classification of the Legacy zone.
The results also demonstrated that the copper mineralization may be extending beyond the initial Legacy discovery in the direction of the Bountiful mineralization.
The mineralization remains open to the south, west, and at depth.
No follow-up drilling, however, was completed at Legacy in 2014.
Galore Creek Mining Co. - an operating company equally owned and supported by subsidiaries of Novagold and Teck Resources Inc. - is incorporating the 2012 and 2013 exploration results into a work plan that will advance the Galore Creek project toward a new resource and reserve estimate for next-level mine planning and design.
According to a prefeasibility study completed in 2011, Galore Creek has proven and probable mineral reserves of 528 million metric tons averaging 0.6 percent copper, 0.32 grams per metric ton gold and 6.02 g/t silver.
The PFS foresees this deposit producing 6.2 billion pounds of copper, 4 million ounces of gold and 65.8 million ounces of silver over an 18-year span - making the proposed mine larger than any copper operation in Canada.
In order to update the PFS, the 2014 work plan includes technical studies in the areas of environmental and water management, as well as site layout.
Novagold believes this work will increase the value of Galore Creek and make the large copper-gold project more marketable to potential buyers.
The company hopes to sell all or part of its half of the project and utilize those funds to develop Donlin Gold.
During the second quarter of 2014, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and cooperating agencies completed the alternatives identification phase of the environmental impact statement for Donlin Gold, a major step in the permitting process. Decisions on the final EIS and accompanying permits are expected in 2016. If permits are approved, mine construction is anticipated to take about four years.
Cash and term deposits: US$170.8 million (Aug. 31, 2014)
Working capital: US$155.7 million (Aug. 31, 2014)
Market capitalization: US$961.4 million (Oct. 9, 2014)
789 West Pender St.
Suite 720
Vancouver, British Columbia Canada V6C 1H2
Tel: 604-669-6227
Fax: 604-669-6272
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