The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
North of 60 Mining News - November 11, 2024
Freegold has added a third rig to drill two holes near encouraging gold mineralization in the eastern part of the Dolphin-Cleary deposit before wrapping up the 2024 drill program later this month.
Freegold Ventures Ltd. Nov. 11 reported assays from four holes that demonstrate the strong potential to upgrade and expand the 25-million-ounce Dolphin-Cleary gold deposit on the company's Golden Summit project about 20 highway miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska.
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:
• 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 nearly completed 2024 drill program has focused on expanding and upgrading this outstanding resource as it prepares for a pre-feasibility study for this road-accessible project.
The majority of holes drilled this year targeted a large gold-in-soil geochemical anomaly extending roughly 1,500 meters west of the Dolphin-Cleary deposit. Highlights from previously reported 2024 holes drilled in this expansion area with a footprint nearly as large as the current deposit 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.
• 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.
The latest batch of assays comes from four holes strategically located to collect material for additional metallurgical testing while also upgrading and expanding the deposit.
Highlights from these holes drilled on the eastern, western, northern, and southern flanks of the deposit include:
• 105.6 meters averaging 1 g/t gold from a depth of 406.5 meters in hole GS2412, including a 45-meter subsection averaging 1.14 g/t gold (Western).
• 34.7 meters averaging 2.06 g/t gold from a depth of 183.3 meters and 38.7 meters averaging 1.33 g/t gold from 554.7 meters in hole GS2414 (Northern).
• 615.3 meters averaging 0.8 g/t gold from a depth of 234.5 meters in hole GS2418, including a 170.7-meter subsection averaging 1.23 g/t gold (Southern).
• 115.5 meters averaging 1.17 g/t gold from a depth of 197.5 meters and 42 meters averaging 3.62 g/t gold from a depth of 361 meters in hole GS2421 (Eastern).
Freegold said the mineralization in hole GS2421, which was drilled to infill a 200-meter gap in the eastern section of the resource, is one of the most continuous higher-grade gold intercepts in this area.
In response to positive preliminary results, the company added a third drill rig in late October to drill two additional holes in the area of GS2421 before wrapping up the 2024 field season at Golden Summit later this month.
Freegold has completed 34 holes at Golden Summit this year, and three more are in progress.
Results from this drilling will be incorporated into an updated resource estimate that will serve as the basis for a prefeasibility study for the world-class gold deposit.
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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