The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Mining Explorers 2024 - January 15, 2025
A Felix Gold geologist beside an antimony-rich rock dug from the NW Array area of the Treasure Creek project.
Felix Gold has assembled roughly 151 square miles of mineral properties in the Fairbanks Mining District.
Joe Webb
In alignment with the United States' goal to bolster domestic production of minerals critical to national security and the broader economy, Felix Gold Ltd. is focused on accelerating the development of a 5,000-metric-ton-per-year antimony mine on its Treasure Creek project about 12 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska.
Felix Gold has assembled roughly 151 square miles of mineral properties in the Fairbanks Mining District.
Treasure Creek is part of a larger land package Felix began assembling in 2020 that covers roughly 151 square miles of the Fairbanks Mining District, a region of Interior Alaska that has produced more than 16 million ounces of gold. A review of historical data, coupled with prospecting and sampling carried out by Felix in 2021, identified Treasure Creek as a top target to begin building a gold resource on its Fairbanks District properties.
Drilling over the ensuing two years outlined a near-surface deposit hosting 25 million metric tons of Australian Joint Ore Reserve Committee- (JORC) compliant inferred resource averaging 0.58 grams per metric ton (467,000 oz) gold.
Treasure Creek, however, also happens to be the home to two historic mines that have offered a strategic source of antimony to the U.S. during times of strategic need.
The larger of the two historic antimony mines at Treasure Creek is Scrafford, which produced an estimated 1.08 million kilograms (2.4 million pounds) of antimony from 2,800 tons of ore averaging 38.6% stibnite (antimony mineral) during intermittent operations from 1915 to 1977.
"Unlike lower-grade antimony often associated with larger gold systems, the high-grade antimony at Treasure Creek – exemplified by the Scrafford Antimony Mine, with historical production grades up to 58% Sb (the periodic table symbol for antimony) – presents a unique opportunity for standalone antimony production," said Felix Gold Executive Director Joe Webb.
Goodwin, which lies approximately 1,500 meters east of Scrafford, also supplied the U.S. with antimony during World War I, but the quantities and grades produced from this underground mine are unknown.
Now, Felix is outlining a zone of high-grade antimony mineralization alongside the near-surface gold at NW Array, which lies about 2,000 meters to the west of Scrafford. Antimony highlights from holes drilled at NW Array and the surrounding area include:
• 1.5 meters averaging 15.99% antimony.
• Three meters averaging 14.24% antimony.
• 1.5 meters averaging 26% antimony.
• 6.1 meters averaging 13% antimony.
• 6.1 meters averaging 7.7% antimony.
Felix is assessing the viability of a standalone, high-grade, and low-capital antimony mine at Treasure Creek.
A primary antimony mine on American soil will likely attract the interest of the U.S. Department of Defense, which considers antimony a strategic metalloid due to its criticality to America's military readiness.
Felix believes the high grades and location of Treasure Creek make it a compelling source of antinomy for the U.S. and its allies.
In September, Felix closed an A$4.8 million (US$3.3 million) financing to accelerate the start of a near-term antimony operation at Treasure Creek.
To gain a better understanding of the extent and grade of outcropping antimony mineralization, Felix completed trenching at Scrafford and NW Array, as well as detailed mapping and sampling along a five-mile (eight kilometers) antimony prospective corridor at Treasure Creek.
Joe Webb
Trench samples from both targets were sent to a lab for metallurgical studies to inform exploration and development strategies.
"We're fortunate to build on historical resources and proven flow sheets from the Scrafford Antimony Mine, but with Felix Gold's high-grade antimony discovery at NW Array, additional metallurgical work is required to confirm the suitability of these historical flow sheets for this newly identified mineralized zone," said Webb.
In addition to Treasure Creek, Felix Gold's Fairbanks District portfolio includes the Grant Mine property, which is home to a small-scale historical mine that produced 18,300 ounces of gold from ore with an average grade of about 5.3 g/t gold.
According to a 2021 calculation, Grant hosts 5.8 million metric tons of Australian Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant inferred resource averaging 1.95 g/t (364,000 oz) gold. Roughly 136,000 oz of this gold is contained within underground resources averaging 6.2 g/t gold.
The company has a roughly 100-hole drill program on the docket for Grant.
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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