Freegold hunts Alaskan gold at Golden Summit

Vancouver — Freegold Ventures (FVL-V) hopes to be the next big thing in Alaskan gold country with projects in areas that have proven resource-rich for Sumitomo Metal Mining and Kinross Gold (K-T, KGC-N).

Freegold’s Golden Summit project sits near Fairbanks and is 8 km north of Kinross’s Fort Knox gold mine.

A 77-hole, 11,800-metre drill program increased inferred resource estimates by 50% through 2011. The Dolphin deposit now has an indicated resource of 17.3 million tonnes grading 0.62 gram gold per tonne for 341,000 oz. contained gold, and an inferred resource of 64.4 million tonnes at 0.55 gram gold or 1.1 million oz. contained gold at a 0.30 gram gold cut-off.

Golden Summit is home to two more exploration targets.

In early January Freegold released initial assays from the Cleary Hill program, where the company hopes to evaluate its bulk-tonnage potential, and find if the deposit is connected to the Dolphin resource. Highlights include: 30.6 metres of 1.8 grams gold in hole 11-62, 21 metres of 1.2 grams gold in hole 11-59, and 75 metres of 0.72 gram gold in hole 11-71. The company says it has now identified bulk-tonnage-style mineralization over a 700-metre length at Cleary Hill.

Freegold developed a 400-metre infill program to connect the northeast-striking Dolphin target and northwest-striking Cleary Hill target into a combined 2-km long target.

Mid-February results from Cleary Hill included 102.7 metres of 1.12 grams gold in hole 12-01, 130 metres of 0.83 gram gold in hole 12-02, and 6.2 metres of 2.93 grams gold in hole 12-01. Freegold’s ongoing drill program is aimed at incorporating the Cleary Hill and Dolphin mineralization into an updated resource estimate later this year.

The February report also included preliminary results from the Christina area collared 3.3 km east of the Dolphin-Cleary Hill mineralized trends. Christina is a historic target drilled from 1978-1988 with a series of northwest-striking and southwest-dipping vein systems. Early results include: 64.7 metres carrying 1.75 grams gold, and 84.9 metres of 0.64 gram gold.

Freegold will operate two drill rigs at Golden Summit in 2012, one to expand the Dolphin-Cleary Hill resources and a second to explore Christina’s bulk tonnage potential

The company also reported results from its Rob property, located 32km east of Sumitomo Metal’s Pogo gold mine in the Goodpaster-Pogo mining district. Rob was first explored in 2007, when the Gray Lead target returned intercepts that included: 11.5 metres of 43.1 grams gold, 18.7 metres of 19.1 grams gold, and 34.1 metres of 2.8 grams gold.

Freegold has a 3-hole, 910-metre drill program focusing on the Rob-Michigan target. Michigan is one of a number of vein structures identified on the Rob property near the Gray Lead mineralization. 

Holes 11-01 and 11-03 intersected anomalous values, but the program’s highlight was hole 11-02, which includes intercepts of: 1.5 metres of carrying 57.1 grams gold, 3.5 metres of 7.04 grams gold, 5 metres feet of 2.16 grams gold, and 9.2 metres of 2.58 grams gold. Trenching and surface sampling have identified two parallel gold-bearing veins to the east.

Freegold completed a resource estimate on its Vinasale gold project in mid-2011. Located in central Alaska’s Kuskokwim region, Vinasale has been explored since the early 1990s. The estimate is based on historic drilling in the Central zone of 6,900 metres and 1,060 metres drilled in 2010. Vinasale has an inferred resource of 45.1 million tonnes at 0.99 gram gold, or 1.4 million oz. contained gold.

In 2011 Freegold completed an additional 3,500 metres of drilling and a ground geophysical program and is now the resource estimate. A 2012 program is expected to include 10,000 metres of drilling, primarily on the northeast zone.

Freegold is banking on today’s high gold prices to off-set higher infrastructure costs and potentially lower grades in the Alaskan gold frontier.

Freegold’s shares have jumped 17% over the past month, from a quarterly low of 62¢ per share in mid-January to a high of 75¢ per share at presstime.

The company raised $7.1 million in 2011 in three non-brokered private placements resulting in the issuance of 13.9 million shares at prices ranging from 48¢ to 55¢. Freegold currently has 61 million shares outstanding, and a market cap of $45.5 million.