The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - October 7, 2024
A drill tests a resource expansion target at Whistler in August. None of the results from the 2024 program are included in the new resource estimate.
The updated Whistler Deposit resource block model shows a higher-grade core that could provide feedstock to a future mill during the initial phases of mining.
U.S. GoldMining Inc. Oct.7 reported that a new calculation more than doubles the amount of copper, gold, and silver in indicated resources within the namesake deposit on its Whistler project in the West Susitna Mineral district about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska.
Since the successful listing on the Nasdaq with a $20 million public offering in April of 2023, U.S. GoldMining has been focused on unlocking the potential of Whistler.
Based on drilling completed from 1986 to the end of 2011, a resource calculation completed in 2022 outlined 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 within three deposits at Whistler.
With the infill drilling completed last year at Whistler Deposit, along with updated metal price assumptions and a better understanding of the mineralization, U.S. Gold Mining has successfully upgraded the resource.
"The successful 2023 drilling program at Whistler improved our confidence in the proximity of mineralization close to surface, extended mineralization along strike to the south, confirmed the consistency of mineralization within the high-grade core of the deposit and grew the overall resource primarily by the drill bit," said U.S. Gold Mining CEO Tim Smith.
As a result, the Whistler, Raintree West, and Island Mountain deposits host 294.5 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.42 g/t (3.93 million oz) gold, 2.01 g/t (19 million oz) silver, and 0.16% (1.02 billion lb) copper; plus198.2 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.52 g/t (3.31 million oz) gold, 1.81 g/t (11.4 million oz) silver; and 0.07% (317 million lb) copper.
The updated Whistler Deposit resource block model shows a higher-grade core that could provide feedstock to a future mill during the initial phases of mining.
Whistler Deposit, which is by far the largest and most advanced on the property, hosts 282.2 million tons of the overall indicated resource averaging 0.41 g/t (3.72 million oz) gold, 1.89 g/t (17.2 million oz) silver, and 0.16% (999 million lb) copper; plus18.2 million metric tons of the inferred resource averaging 0.4 g/t (233,000 oz) gold, 1.75 g/t (1 million oz) silver; and 0.13% (54 million lb) copper.
"In less than one-and-a-half years since completing our initial public offering, U.S. GoldMining's exploration initiatives have resulted in strengthened confidence in the mineral resource estimate for its flagship Whistler Deposit by increasing estimated gold-equivalent ounces in the indicated category by 117% from prior estimates," Smith said.
The upgraded and expanded resource at Whistler does not include any of the 4,006 meters of drilling completed this year.
"Our recently completed 2024 drilling program within the Whistler deposit further confirmed the geological model while drill testing below the current mineral resource block model for additional potential extensions of the mineral system," U.S. GoldMining's CEO added. "We look forward to receiving additional results from the 2024 drill hole assays which we believe will continue to support the Project's potential to host a long-life, high-quality gold-copper-silver mine located in one of the most favorable mining jurisdictions in the United States."
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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