The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - October 9, 2024
Freegold has drilled 27 holes this year, focusing primarily on expanding the resource ahead of a pre-feasibility study for this nearly 25-million-ounce gold project in Alaska.
Freegold Resources Ltd. Oct. 8 reported that its resource expansion drilling west of the 25-million-ounce Dolphin-Cleary gold deposit at its Golden Summit in Interior Alaska is cutting multiple higher-grade veins reminiscent of the historic Newsboy Mine about 1,000 meters to the southwest.
According to a calculation completed in September, Dolphin-Cleary hosts 23.8 million ounces of open-pit mineable gold in all resource categories, plus 1.1 million oz of underground mineable gold.
The resources outlined within the deposit are divided into three groups – open-pit mineable oxide resources, open-pit mineable primary resources, and deeper under-pit resources.
Here is the resource calculation by group:
• Oxide (at a 0.15 grams per metric ton cutoff grade): 59.41 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.49 g/t (937,000 oz) gold; plus 3.25 million metric tons of inferred resources averaging 0.45 g/t (47,000 oz) gold.
• Primary (0.5 g/t cutoff): 346.3 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 1.08 g/t (12.05 million oz) gold; plus 308.31 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 1.04 g/t (10.31 million oz) gold.
• Under-pit (0.75 g/t cutoff): 2.87 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 1.29 g/t (119,000 oz) gold; plus 22.9 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 1.34 g/t (986,000 oz) gold.
Freegold's 2024 drill program is focused primarily on expanding this already world-class resource to the west as it prepares for the start of a pre-feasibility study for this road-accessible project about 25 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska.
A large gold-in-soil geochemical anomaly extends roughly 1,500 meters west of the Dolphin-Cleary deposit, and drilling in this area has cut strong gold mineralization.
Highlights from two previously reported 2024 holes in this western resource expansion area include:
• 65.9 meters averaging 4.63 g/t gold from a depth of 692.1 meters in hole GS2401, including a three-meter subsection averaging 85.9 g/t (2.76 oz/t) gold.
• 45 meters averaging 5.51 g/t gold from a depth of 545 meters in hole GS2402, including a three-meter subsection averaging 67 g/t (2.15 oz/t) gold, and 15.6 meters averaging 3.74 g/t gold from 604.4 meters.
The latest batch of assays are from the seven additional holes drilled this year. Three of these holes – GS2406, GS2407 and GS2408 – cut multiple higher-grade intercepts over significant widths. Highlights include:
• 115.2 meters averaging 3.36 g/t gold from a depth of 45.8 meters, 49.5 meters averaging 0.96 g/t gold from 231.3 meters, and 25.7 meters averaging 1.22 g/t gold from 444.3 meters in hole GS2406.
• 28.9 meters averaging 2.29 g/t gold from a depth of 119.5 meters, 40.8 meters averaging 1.9 g/t gold from 330.4 meters, and 87.4 meters averaging 1.59 g/t gold from 522.4 meters in hole GS2407.
• 5.7 meters averaging 1.76 g/t gold from a depth of 241.4 meters, 17.1 meters averaging 1.17 g/t gold from 341.8 meters, and 42 meters averaging 3.06 g/t gold from 528 meters in hole GS2408.
The orientation of gold mineralization is shifting as drilling traces gold mineralization west of the current resource, which has resulted in an adjustment in Freegold's targeting strategy.
With the mineralization in the central part of the Dolphin-Cleary deposit dipping to the south, most holes drilled there and in the westward expansion area have been angled to the north to cut across the mineralization. As the drilling gets closer to Newsboy – which produced roughly 40,000 oz of gold from ore averaging around 1oz/t (31 g/t) gold during intermittent mining from 1911 to 1932 – the mineralization is shifting to a north-dipping orientation observed at the historic mine.
Freegold is now drilling this area with vertical holes in order to better understand the geometry of the gold mineralization and to determine where the shift occurs.
So far, Freegold has drilled 27 holes this year at Golden Summit, and two more are currently underway.
In addition to the drill program, metallurgical, baseline environmental, cultural resource, and wetland studies remain ongoing.
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)