The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
U.S. GoldMining will advance large Alaska copper-gold project North of 60 Mining News – March 4, 2022
A drill tests Island Mountain deposit during the 2010 program at GoldMining's Whistler copper-gold-silver project in Alaska.
Looking south toward the Whistler deposit, which hosts the majority of the resources at GoldMining's Whistler project.
GoldMining Inc. Feb. 28 announced the creation of a new subsidiary, U.S. GoldMining Inc., to advance the company's Whistler copper-gold-silver project adjacent to Nova Minerals Ltd.'s Estelle gold project in Alaska.
The Whistler, Raintree West, and Island Mountain deposits on the roughly 42,000-acre Whistler property host 118.2 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.51 grams per metric ton (1.94 million ounces) gold, 2.19 g/t (8.3 million oz) silver, and 0.16% (422 million pounds) copper; plus 317 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.46 g/t (4.67 million oz) gold, 1.58 g/t (16.1 million oz) silver; and 0.1% (711.4 million lb) copper.
These resources are based on 70,247 meters of diamond drilling completed in 257 holes from 1986 to the end of 2011. Of these holes, 52 were drilled in the Whistler deposit area, 94 holes in the Raintree West area, and 36 holes in the Island Mountain area. Another 75 holes were drilled across the wider property.
GoldMining, then known as Brazil Resources, acquired the Whistler project from Kiska Metals in 2015.
In addition to extensive drilling, Kiska established an airport and camp near the Whistler and Raintree West deposit and roads that allow for easy access to these deposits. Island Mountain, which lies about 14 miles south of the camp, must be reached by helicopter.
"By any standard, Whistler is a large project, with indicated resources of 3 million gold-equivalent ounces and inferred resources of 6.5 million gold-equivalent ounces covering an expansive regional land package," said GoldMining CEO Alastair Still. "A base camp and gravel airstrip is established for field programs. The last time Whistler saw drilling activity was almost a decade ago, which creates the opportunity to apply new regional geologic models and technical findings by GoldMining and neighboring companies to unlock value for Whistler, by a dedicated team following best practices with a dedication to safety, the environment and sustainable development for local communities."
To accomplish this, the company's board of directors has approved a strategy to have U.S. GoldMining operated as a separate public company through an initial public offering or similar transaction.
"We acquired the Whistler project in the summer of 2015, when spot gold was $1,000 per oz, near the bottom of the last bear market. Today, with spot gold approaching $2,000 per oz and copper price near a decade high, optimum market conditions exist to immediately unlock substantial value by creating U.S. GoldMining without dilution to GoldMining's capital structure," said GoldMining Chairman Amir Adnani. "The new subsidiary will have a dedicated team and experienced board of directors to advance this large and exciting project. Additionally, we're very encouraged by current attractive market valuations for Alaskan based resource stage gold and copper projects that supports a potential re-rating for the Whistler project as the flagship asset of U.S. GoldMining as a standalone company."
With offices in Brazil and Vancouver, British Columbia, GoldMining is focused on the acquisition and development of gold assets in the Americas. The company controls a diversified portfolio of resource-stage gold and gold-copper projects in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. The company also owns 20 million shares of Gold Royalty Corp., a company with net smelter return royalties on extensive gold-focused assets that GoldMining spun out into a U.S. listed company in 2021.
Adnani said the company's strategy for moving Whistler into U.S. GoldMining follows on the company's success with Gold Royalty.
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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