The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News – October 20, 2023
Part of Felix's larger land package, Treasure Creek is a gold-antimony project about 10 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska.
Felix Gold is finding the critical mineral stibnite alongside the near-surface gold at its Treasure Creek property in Alaska.
Felix Gold Ltd. Oct. 19 reported that assays from the 2023 drill program at the NW Array target returned high-grade antimony that elevates the criticality of the company's Treasure Creek project in Alaska.
Since its emergence on the Alaska mining scene in 2021, Australia-based Felix has amassed more than 150 square miles of gold-enriched properties in the Fairbanks Mining District of Interior Alaska. Early mapping and sampling work identified the Treasure Creek property about 12 miles west of Kinross Gold Corp.'s Fort Knox Mine as a high-priority target for drilling.
Based on Felix's inaugural drilling at Treasure Creek in 2022, a 1.1-million- to 3.6-million-ounce gold near-surface exploration target in 76 million to 92 million metric tons of material averaging 0.4 to 1.1 grams per metric ton gold was established for the NW Array prospect at Treasure Creek.
This year, Felix completed 4,695 meters of drilling in 50 holes that primarily targeted NW Array. Highlights from this drilling include:
• 100.5 meters averaging 1.14 g/t gold from a depth of 21.3 meters in hole 23TCRC135.
• 70.1 meters averaging 1.6 g/t gold from a depth of 6.1 meters in hole 23TCRC138.
• 53.3 meters averaging 1.88 g/t gold from a depth of 30.5 meters in hole 23TCRC153.
• 54.9 meters averaging 1.8 g/t gold from a depth of 1.5 meters in hole 23TCRC155.
Felix also recognized significant quantities of the antimony mineral stibnite alongside the near-surface gold at NW Array and had the holes from its 2023 drilling analyzed for antimony. Highlights include:
• 1.5 meters averaging 26% antimony from a depth of 22.9 meters, and 16.76 meters averaging 1.91% antimony from a depth of 51.8 meters in hole 23TCRC135.
• 6.1 meters averaging 13% antimony from a depth of 30.5 meters in hole 23TCRC155.
• 6.1 meters averaging 7.69% antimony from a depth of 3.1 meters in hole 23TCRC176, including 1.5 meters averaging 28% antimony.
"The discovery of multiple high-grade antimony zones, near surface, with results up to 28% Sb (stibnite), opens alternative commercialisation opportunities for Felix Gold," said Felix Gold Executive Director Joe Webb.
Treasure Creek has long been known for its antimony potential. The property is home to the historic Scrafford Mine, an operation that produced more than 1,400 tons of hand-sorted ore averaging an estimated 58% stibnite.
Mining at Scrafford was carried out intermittently in the 1930s and 1970s. It is estimated that a total of 1.08 million kilograms (2.4 million pounds) of antimony in 2,800 metric tons of ore averaging 38.6% stibnite was extracted from this mine about 2,000 meters southeast of NW Array.
The presence of high-grade antimony elevates the criticality of this project about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Fairbanks.
Used in a wide range of military gear, from fire-resistant combat equipment and night vision goggles to ammunition and laser sighting, antimony is high on the U.S. Department of Defense's list of strategic minerals.
This metalloid, an element with properties that fall between metals and non-metals, is also used in car batteries, high-quality glass for binocular lenses and similar optical equipment, glass screens of smartphones and other electronic devices.
Adding to its criticality, antimony is also a key ingredient in liquid-metal batteries that can store electricity at the grid scale, a key enabler to the transition to intermittent renewable energy sources.
Despite its strategic value to the Pentagon and critical applications in the private sector, no marketable antimony is being mined in the U.S. Instead, America depends on oft adversarial countries for more than 83% of its needs, with the rest coming from recycling.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, China produced roughly 55% of global supply during 2022, Russia accounted for about 18%, and Tajikistan produced another 15% – a combined 88% of the world's mined antimony.
To break U.S. dependence on unreliable and potentially adversarial foreign sources, DOD is investing roughly $40 million into Perpetua Resources Corp. to establish a domestic source of antimony that begins at the company's Stibnite Gold project in Idaho.
Much like the Stibnite Gold mine project in Idaho, Treasure Creek is showing the potential for a resource that leverages the value of both the precious metal and critical metalloid found there.
"While antimony is often found in lower concentrations alongside gold deposits, the extraordinary high-grade nature of this antimony discovery presents opportunities to assess the independent potential of antimony operations," said Webb.
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.
Reader Comments(0)