The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
This former Trans-Alaska Pipeline System camp served as the headquarters for the exploration crews that outlined 11.5 million ounces of gold at International Tower Hill Mines' Livengood project about 70 miles north of Fairbanks.
International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. continued optimization and environmental baseline studies at Livengood, an 11.5-million-ounce gold project located along a paved highway about 70 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska.
To fund this work, the Alaska-based exploration company raised US$12 million through a non-brokered private placement that involved issuing 24 million shares at US50 cents each. Electrum Strategic Opportunities Fund II, a new International Tower Hill Mines investor, acquired 19.89 million of the shares. This gives the investment fund managed by The Electrum Group a 10.7 percent stake in Tower Hill.
The remaining 4.1-million issued went to Paulson & Co. Already a major ITH shareholder, Paulson now owns 32 percent of Tower Hill's issued and outstanding shares.
To stretch the money it raised, the Tower Hill board approved recommendations by management to further reduce corporate overhead costs beginning in 2018. These decreases include a 50 percent cut to the CEO salary, reflecting a reduction in the needed CEO duties; a lowering of board member cash compensation and expense; and staff reductions when critical work is completed. Tower Hill said stretching the funds it has on hand will help provide the time necessary for the gold market to reward patient investors.
A US$5.1-million work program for 2018 is building upon the metallurgical studies undertaken in 2017, which is expected to further define and refine the project flowsheet.
Using improved mineralization and alteration models for the Livengood gold deposit resulting from last year's work, 4,000 kilograms (8,818 pounds) of metallurgical composites have been collected from select areas of Money Knob, the gold deposit that carries the resource at Livengood. Portions of these samples are being processed to determine whether different recovery or cost parameters should be applied to various portions of the orebody. Environmental baseline efforts needed to support future permitting also continued in 2018.
The Money Knob deposit at Livengood hosts 525.4 million metric tons of measured and indicated resource averaging 0.68 grams per metric ton (11.5 million oz) gold.
-SHANE LASLEY
International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. - TSX: ITH / NYSE-A:THM
Chairman: Marcelo Kim
Chief Executive Officer: Karl Hanneman
Chief Geologist: Chris Puchner
506 Gaffney Road, Ste. 200, Fairbanks, AK 99701
Tel: 907-328-2800
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