The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Explores under-drilled area near iconic Fairbanks area mine North of 60 Mining News – March 6, 2020
Road accessibility and proximity to Fairbanks allows Freegold Ventures to efficiently drill at Golden Summit during even the coldest days of Alaska's winter.
Visible gold in a sample collected at Golden Summit, a property that hosts several shafts from early 20th century high-grade gold mines.
Freegold Ventures Ltd. announced that drills are now turning at Golden Summit, an advanced staged gold exploration project located alongside the Steese Highway about a 30-minute drive north of Fairbanks.
Golden Summit hosts 61.5 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.69 g/t ton (1.36 million ounces) gold; and 71.5 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.69 g/t (1.58 million oz) gold.
The oxide portion of this deposit, found largely within the upper 60 meters, has 16.2 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.66 g/t (345,000 oz) gold; and 9.6 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.59 g/t (183,000 oz) gold.
In 2016, Freegold published a preliminary economic assessment that evaluates a 10,000 metric-tons-per-day heap leach facility to process the oxide material and a 10,000 tpd plant for the sulfide material.
The current drilling is targeting higher grade gold mineralization near the historic Cleary Hill Mine, which produced 281,000 ounces of gold from ore averaging 1.3 oz per ton before the operation was shuttered during World War II.
Based on Freegold's previous work, it is interpreted that higher-grade gold mineralization may extend to the west of the old Cleary Hill Mine workings in an area of limited previous drilling. Tapping higher grade gold in this area has the potential to bolster the overall resource grade at Golden Summit.
In addition to Golden Summit, Freegold Ventures owns Shorty Creek, a porphyry copper-gold project about 75 miles northwest of Fairbanks. Last year, South32 Ltd. entered into an option agreement with Freegold to acquire 70% interest in Shorty Creek for US$30 million, less any money the Australia-based major invested in exploring the promising copper-gold-silver-tungsten deposits that have been identified across the property. To keep the option in good standing, South32 has agreed to fund up to US$10 million on exploration over a four-year span. Last year South32 invested US$2.3 million in exploration at Shorty Creek and has budgeted a minimum of US$2 million to further explore the copper-gold-silver-tungsten project this year.
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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