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 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.
In less than 18 months after listing on the Nasdaq with a $20 million initial public offering, U.S. GoldMining has more than doubled 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.
"This 'trifecta' of commodities in the West Susitna is highly attractive at a time when all are currently experiencing strengthening commodity prices – gold and copper recently achieving all-time highs of approximately $2,500 per oz and $5.00 per lb respectively, and silver recently at a ten-year high of approximately $30/oz," U.S. GoldMining CEO Tim Smith penned in an August email.
When U.S. GoldMining launched its inaugural program at Whistler in the summer of 2023, the project hosted 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.
These resources were hosted in the Whistler and Raintree West deposits near the north end of the 53,700-acre property, and the Island Mountain deposit about 12 miles to the south.
U.S. GoldMining is focused on building resources within the Whistler Orbit, a roughly 5-mile-diameter (7.6 kilometers) area surrounding Whistler and Raintree and several earlier staged porphyry copper-gold targets.
The company views Island Mountain as a compelling secondary deposit that would add value after mining is established within the Whistler Orbit.
Based on infill drilling completed at Whistler Deposit in 2023, along with updated metal price assumptions and a better understanding of the mineralization, U.S. GoldMining has significantly upgraded the Whistler 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 Smith.
As a result, the Whistler, Raintree West, and Island Mountain deposits now 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 in 2024. Highlights from the 2024 drill program include:
• 652.5 meters averaging 0.16% copper, 0.73 g/t gold, and 1.5 g/t silver from a depth of seven meters in hole Wh23-03 (a hole started at Whistler deposit in 2023 and finished in 2024).
• 17 meters averaging 0.07% copper, 0.33 g/t gold, 42 g/t silver, 0.75% zinc, and 0.33% lead from a depth of 249 meters; and 61.8 meters averaging 0.09% copper, 0.36 g/t gold, 4.43 g/t silver, 0.39% zinc, and 0.14% lead from a depth of 311 meters in hole WH24-01 (Raintree West).
U.S. GoldMining's 2024 field program also includes surface exploration of some of the earlier staged porphyry gold-copper targets that have been identified within the Whistler Orbit.
At the same time, environmental specialists collected baseline water quality samples, completed an eagle habitat survey, and carried out wetland mapping and archaeological surveys during the 2024 field season at Whistler.
All of this baseline work is vital to future planning and permitting a mine at this gold-copper-silver project in the West Susitna Mineral District.
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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