Freegold samples 3 feet of 616 gpt Au at Golden Summit
2007-01-15 10:53 ET - News Release
Mr. Steve Manz reports
FREEGOLD SAMPLING RETURNS 617 G/T GOLD OVER 3 FEET AT GOLDEN SUMMIT - DRILLING COMMENCES
Freegold Ventures Ltd. has commenced a multiphase definition drilling program on its Golden Summit property outside Fairbanks, Alaska. Final assays from its fall trenching/sampling program continue to identify new high-grade veins and hangingwall bleed zones, in addition to lower-grade mineralization in between the veins and shears. Results from the 2006 work programs suggest that Golden Summit may have the potential to host bulk-tonnage gold mineralization in addition to high-grade gold mineralization in individual veins.
The current phase I drill program will consist of 5,000 feet of shallow drilling in three closely spaced parallel lines to test for gold mineralization through the Cleary Hill vein system and the 1,000-foot-wide swarm of veins as well as shear zones that run subparallel and immediately south of the Cleary Hill vein. Subsequent drilling phases to test for gold mineralization in the vein systems at other locations along its 3,500-foot known strike length may increase the total drilling footage up to 25,000 feet.
Cleary Hill vein system
The Cleary Hill vein, which was mined down to the water-table depth of 400 feet in the early 1900s, was the source of approximately 280,000 ounces of gold production at an average grade of 44.6 grams per tonne (1.3 ounces per ton). Freegold's 2006 program was not only successful in discovering a new 1,300-foot eastern extension of the Cleary Hill vein, but more importantly the program discovered that extensive bleeding of gold mineralization, via smaller quartz vein splays and horsetails, into both the hangingwall and footwall rocks, resulted in the formation of mineralized zones up to 100 feet wide surrounding the vein.
This discovery was made at the old Beistline shaft area, 1,300 feet east of the Cleary Hill mine working, where vein stripping and sampling adjacent to Beistline shaft in June uncovered the principal Cleary Hill vein. Channel samples along the 185-foot strike length of the four-foot-to-18-foot-wide vein averaged 39.5 grams per tonne (1.15 ounces per ton). Mineralization was noted to extend to the south and five-foot-long channel samples, extending five to 10 feet into the hangingwall, returned assays of 25.3, 34.3, 31.1, 26.1 and 46.3 grams per tonne (0.74 to 1.35 ounces per ton). Overburden stripping subsequently continued to the south, exposing mineralization over an area approximately 140 feet long and 100 feet wide. This area was sampled with five-foot chip channel samples on five-foot spacings. Mineralization was found to grade from less than 0.1 gram per tonne to 53.9 grams per tonne. Following the completion of the first five-foot-wide bulk sample pit and collection of the Cleary Hill vein material, additional gold mineralization remained visible in the pit walls, and a number of vertical chip channel samples were taken periodically throughout the initial 110-foot length of the pit. These assays have now been received, and confirm the presence of high-grade mineralization in the mineralized zone surrounding the main Cleary Hill vein.
Location along Gold Sample
Beistline grade type
pit wall feet gpt
0 0.24 two-foot vertical chip
10 3.67 grab
14 0.41 grab
20 0.52 three-foot vertical chip
42 1.24 five-foot vertical chip
56 0.68 two-foot vertical chip
74 1.57 two-foot vertical chip
80 616.72 three-foot vertical chip
92 4.63 three-foot vertical chip
101 65.25 three-foot vertical chip
105 0.78 3.5-foot vertical chip
This material was subsequently mined as part of the bulk sampling program. Approximately 6,000 tonnes of material was collected from the pit, which measures 300 feet long, 30 feet deep and 30 feet wide. Mineralization continues into the hangingwall of the current pit, and surface trenching chip channel samples 80 feet south of the pit wall and perpendicular to strike of the vein system returned 15 feet averaging 22.3 grams per tonne (0.65 ounce per ton).
Construction of the haul road, and subsequent stripping/cross-trenching also exposed the Cleary Hill structure approximately 1,200 feet west of the Beistline shaft area, directly above the old underground workings. As was seen in the eastern extension, gold mineralization extends over an area more than 100 feet wide, with mineralization and alteration along the main structure comparable with that seen in the Beistline shaft area. One channel sample taken on the bulk-sampled structure in this area assayed 31 grams per tonne (0.9 ounce per ton) over nine feet perpendicular to the strike of the vein. The veins in this structure are confirmed to be on strike with the higher-grade intercepts previously reported in Freegold's June cross-trenches between this and the Beistline shaft area.
In light of these new discoveries, management re-examined the limited previous drilling by Freegold along strike on this structure. Three drill holes from 1997 and 1998, located 3,000 feet west of the Beistline shaft, went through and under the Cleary Hill mine workings, and encountered significant widths of mineralization that did not fit the geological model for the Cleary Hill vein system at that time. Intercepts from these core holes included:
* 162 feet grading 0.86 gram per tonne (0.025 ounce per ton) from hole CHD9703;
* 150 feet grading 1.27 grams per tonne (0.037 ounce per ton) from hole CHD9704; and
* 101 feet grading 1.3 grams per tonne (0.038 ounce per ton) and 40 feet grading 2.2 grams per tonne (0.064 ounce per ton) in the hangingwall, plus an additional 51 feet grading 0.86 gram per tonne (0.025 ounce per ton) in the footwall of hole CHD9801.
Management now believes these significant widths of mineralization may be similar to that found in the Beistline shaft area and the Cleary Hill area 1,200 feet west of the Beistline shaft.
The Cleary Hill structure continues to remain open along strike in both directions.
Cleary Hill south vein swarm
The Cleary Hill south vein swarm comprises a series of east-northeast-trending veins and shear zones in an area that extends up to 1,000 feet south of the Cleary Hill mine, and that have been traced to date over a total strike length of approximately 1,100 feet. The haul road constructed last fall switched back and forth down the hill through the known vein swarm in the areas of the previously reported Wackwitz and Colorado veins as well as the Currey shear zone. New exposures uncovered by the haul road construction, plus additional cross-trenching in the area, has led to the discovery of a number of new veins and shear zones. Starting from south to north, the currently identified structures in this swarm exhibit the following characteristics.
Currey shear, with a known strike length of 1,100 feet
A 15-to-20-foot-wide shear zone exhibiting strong alteration, silicification and brecciation. Assay data indicate that mineralization within the shear is fairly evenly distributed with samples usually assaying in the 1.5 to three grams per tonne (0.044 ounce per ton to 0.88 ounce per ton) range over the width of the zone, though a grab sample from a block of quartz one foot in diameter assayed 77 grams per tonne (2.25 ounces per ton). June trenching returned 220 feet averaging 2.3 grams per tonne (0.067 ounce per ton) over 10-foot widths. A series of recently returned road-cut chip channels over a 20-foot length also averaged 2.3 grams per tonne, and 220 feet of new trenching this fall to the southwest continued to add to the strike of this shear with grades continuing to average in the over-two-gram-per-tonne range. The Currey shear encountered in trenching is directly on strike with a drill intercept of a similar multiphase shear zone located another 500 feet to the southwest where a Freegold core drill hole in 2000 intersected the shear over a 72-foot true width at an average grade of 4.4 grams per tonne (0.14 ounce per ton). The Currey zone remains open in all directions.
Wackwitz vein, with a known strike length of 920 feet
A distinctive milky quartz vein hosting native gold. June trenching discovered a new five-foot-wide zone averaging 16.4 grams per tonne (0.48 ounce per ton) over 235 feet with a higher-grade section of 85 feet grading 34.8 grams per tonne (1.01 ounce per ton), which includes 50 feet grading 53.1 grams per tonne (1.5 ounces per ton). The vein is hosted within schists and is frequently offset from one to several feet by one to six inches wide, steeply dipping cross-structures that are also gold bearing, with grades usually less than one gram. The Wackwitz vein trenched and bulk sampled in the fall programs has a strike length of 300 feet and is on strike with Wackwitz vein located in a road-cut exposure 120 feet to the southwest and with the 2002 cross-trenching another 500 feet to the southwest.
Blue shear, with a known strike length of 100 feet
A newly discovered 25-foot-wide shear zone exhibiting strong alteration and silicification. This shear is similar in appearance to the Currey shear mineralization, and five-foot-long chip channel samples taken along the new road and perpendicular to the strike of the shear returned an average grade of 2.5 grams per tonne (0.073 ounce per ton) over 25 feet, with the individual five-foot samples ranging from 1.3 to 6.4 grams per tonne (0.038 to 0.189 ounce per ton).
Alaska vein, with a known strike length of 140 feet
A narrow, high-grade quartz vein that varies from three to six inches in width. Five-foot channel samples assayed 47.3, 16.7 and 6.2 grams per tonne (1.38, 0.49 and 0.18 ounce per ton), while grab samples assayed from 31.9 to 59.2 grams per tonne (0.93 to 1.73 ounces per ton).
Red vein, with a known strike length of 80 feet
A three-inch-wide quartz vein with a five-foot chip channel discovery assay of 15.4 grams per tonne (0.45 ounce per ton) perpendicular to the strike of the vein. A five-foot chip channel in the face of the bulk sample trench assayed 21.3 grams per tonne (0.62 ounce per ton).
D8 vein, with a known strike length of 80 feet
A three-to-six-inch-wide quartz vein assaying three grams per tonne (0.088 ounce per ton) in a five-foot chip channel sample perpendicular to the strike of the vein. A grab sample from the vein assayed 32.6 grams per tonne (0.95 ounce per ton).
Colorado vein, with a known strike length of 580 feet
A three-to-12-inch-wide quartz vein, which has been traced over a strike length of 580 feet with five-foot chip channel samples in the separate trench and road-cut exposures assaying 4.3, 34.3 and 3.9 grams per tonne (0.13, one and 0.11 ounce per ton). Three grab samples in the trenches assayed 16.5, 22 and 173 grams per tonne (0.48, 0.64 and 5.04 ounces per ton).
Cleary Hill area drill program
The collection of 10,000 tons of bulk material from a number of veins and shear zones in the Cleary Hill area last fall, and the subsequent analysis and recovery of gold from the samples this spring, is an important step in helping assess average gold grades over larger volumes in an area where free milling and visible gold can often lead to variable results in small sample sizes. As this is a slow and costly process, the current close-spaced, shallow drill program is a cost-effective way to analyze the variability of gold grades and to determine optimal drilling patterns for future resource calculations. The holes, which will be limited to a depth of 51 feet, will also permit Freegold to identify new veins, structures and gold mineralization both close to known sample locations, and in new areas between previous trenches as well as along possible strike length extensions. Phase I will consist of 5,000 feet of drilling in approximately 100 shallow holes. These holes will test an area from the northern most mineralization of the Cleary Hill structure through to the final known veins structure in the southern vein swarm. Three lines of holes spaced 15 feet apart with the drill holes in each line of the fence spaced 20 feet apart should allow two intercepts to be obtained on a 65-degree south-dipping vein, such as the Cleary Hill, using 51-foot hole depths. Because the mineralization found at surface is known from mine workings and drill hole intercepts to persist to depths of at least 400 feet, Freegold management believes this shallow drilling will provide a snapshot of the mineralization that will be found deeper in the system. Drilling under this multiphase program may extend to 25,000 feet in 490 holes to test the mineralization with additional fences at various locations along its strike length. Drill hole spacing may be changed in subsequent phases following the evaluation of each phase in order to ultimately arrive at optimal drill hole spacing for future resource-oriented drilling. Drilling is being conducted with an Ingersol-Rand conventional percussion drill. Cuttings are returned up the drill hole with the use of an OEM vacuum drill cuttings collector, and are dropped from a cyclone directly into a sample bag. Samples are collected every three feet, with the drill bit being pulled off the bottom and the hole cleaned at the completion of each sample interval. Down-hole inspections following completion has shown holes to be straight sided with no evidence of ravelling or caving to the bottom of the holes. Clean drill hole bottoms are clearly visible with the aid of a flashlight. Freegold maintains a geologist and sampler at the drill rig for all drilling to take and log all samples to ensure that QA/QC is in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 requirements.
Alaska Assay Laboratories in Fairbanks, Alaska, and ALS Chemex Labs in North Vancouver, B.C., were used to analyse for gold via fire assay analysis plus multielement ICP-AES and ICP-MS analysis using four-acid digestion for the 2006 sampled material. Alaska Assay Labs will be used to analyse the drill cuttings for gold via fire assay from the 2007 drill program. Only samples from the centre line of each three-row drill fence will be submitted for multielement analysis.
The qualified person for this release is Michael Gross, MS, PGeo, vice-president of exploration, Freegold.
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