Significantly Increased Mineral Resource Estimate For Golden Summit Project
VANCOUVER - Freegold Ventures Limited reported on the updated Mineral Resource Estimate for its Golden Summit project located near Fairbanks, Alaska. The Updated Mineral Resource Estimate is based on a drill program designed to expand, upgrade and increase the overall resource grade at the Golden Summit project. From 2020 to 2022, over 83,000 meters of drilling were completed in 131 holes in the Dolphin Cleary Area of the Golden Summit project. The Updated MRE has incorporated 128 holes of the drilling completed, which has resulted in a significant increase in both the overall resource grade and tonnage at Golden Summit. Assays for two drill holes were not complete at the resource cut-off date (February 6, 2023) and have therefore not been incorporated in the Updated MRE.
A total of 72,196 assays were incorporated. Gold composite values were capped at 30 g/t with a range restriction: composites were used at their full value within 20 meters of the composite location, beyond which, they were capped at 30 g/t, as the drop in aggregate sum of the gold composite values after capping was 6.2%, indicating that the outlier gold values had an influence disproportionate to their number. Capping affected approximately 0.07% of the population (31 samples). The resource is pit constrained using a three-year trailing average gold price of $1,792/oz.
The Updated Mineral Resource Estimate is restricted to the Dolphin Cleary Area of the Golden Summit project. The Dolphin-Cleary is the only area of the project to have a resource delineated. The deposit at Golden Summit remains open, particularly to the west and the southwest, where Freegold has outlined a strong gold in soil geochemical anomaly that has not been drill tested. Further southwest lies the historic Newsboy Mine, which produced 40,000 ounces at an average grade of 1oz/t. Other exploration targets within this remarkable project include the Saddle Zone and the Hi Yu area both of which host historic high-grade producers (Saddle Zone – American Eagle 60,000 ounces @ 1.6 oz/t, Hi Yu – 110,000 ounces @ 1.6 oz/t).
Kristina Walcott, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "The Golden Summit project represents one of the largest undeveloped gold resources in North America. The 2023 exploration program is expected to further expand upon the deposit as well as to test other targets within this highly prospective property with additional drilling. The past three years have been transformative for the Company, having increased the in pit resource significantly since this latest drill program began. Freegold continues to have one of the lowest discovery costs per ounce in the industry at less than ~$4.00/oz. We are extremely pleased with the results of our efforts and look forward to completing an updated economic assessment later this year."
For the pit-constrained resource, the mining, processing and G&A costs amount to US$25.70/tonne which results in a cutoff grade of 0.45 g/t Au (25.70/57.61 = 0.446 rounded to 0.45 g/t). The oxide portion of the Pit-Constrained resource has an estimated processing cost of approximately US$4.10/tonne, which translates to a cutoff grade of 0.12 g/t Au (4.10+1.9+0.9 =6.90/57.61 = 0.12). This has been rounded up to 0.15 g/.t.For the underground resource, the mining method is assumed to be block caving, with a cost of US$20.00 / tonne, which translates to a cutoff grade of 0.75 g/t Au. The base cases for both the pit-constrained and underground resources are highlighted. Gold grades have been rounded from four decimal places to two.
The 2020-2022 drill program focused exclusively on the Dolphin Cleary Zone at the Golden Summit project and extended gold mineralization over 1.5 km along strike and to depths of over 1,000 meters. Mineralization in the Dolphin Cleary Zone is hosted within a broad structural corridor of gold mineralization comprised of the Dolphin stock, a multiphase intrusive complex, and metasedimentary rocks comprised of various schists within which are discrete high-grade veins, veinlets, and areas of vein stockwork which effectively form a vein swarm, that occasionally contain exceptional high grades. The main Cleary Hill Vein swarm ("CVS") mineralization dips to the south. It plunges southwest towards the Dolphin intrusive, with the mineralization increasing in intensity closer to the Dolphin intrusive and especially along the contact margins.
The highway-accessible Golden Summit project is located approximately 32 km northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, and was the subject of an intensive drill campaign between January 2011 and August 2013 in which 36,159 meters were drilled. Three resource updates were completed each in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). In January 2016, a preliminary economic assessment (the "2016 PEA") prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 was produced for the Company by Tetra Tech. Between 2013 and 2020 limited drilling was conducted (approximately 1,890 meters of shallow oxide drilling). Since 2020, over 83,000 meters have been drilled, representing the most focused exploration effort ever undertaken on the Golden Summit project, and resulting in the Updated Mineral Resource Estimate. The 2016 PEA has not been updated in light of the Updated MRE, and the updated Mineral Resource Estimate updates and replaces the mineral resource estimate of the Company contained in the PEA. An updated PEA will be completed later in 2023.
Freegold will file within 45 days an updated technical report for the Golden Summit project, including a description of the Updated Mineral Resource Estimate contained herein. Further information regarding the Updated MRE will be set forth in this report. An updated PEA is expected later in 2023.