Vancouver – The latest batch of deep drill holes from Freegold Ventures‘ (ITF-T, FGOVF-O) Almaden project in west-central Idaho continues to provide optimism of adding to the gold inventory.
Results from an additional 14 holes of the current 10,000-metre resource expansion drill program have intersected deeper, higher-grade gold values in the Main zone and have extended mineralization up to 60 metres deeper than previous drilling.
Core hole C-68 in the central part of the Main zone cut 134 metres (from 9-metres down hole depth) grading 0.74 gram gold per tonne including the upper 53 metres averaging 1.33 grams gold. A 13.7-metre interval of the higher-grade section came in at 3.02 grams gold.
Drilling in the northwestern section of the Main zone has also expanded a gold-mineralized hydrothermal breccia zone associated with a newly discovered feeder structure.
Other holes also expanded the southern and northwest portions of the Almaden Main zone as well as defining the eastern and western boundaries of the gold mineralization.
Infill and expansion drilling of the North zone has been completed with assays pending. Once the final holes on the Main zone are completed the new resource study will incorporate the results.
An early-2006 resource estimate of Almaden tabled 22.5 million indicated tonnes grading 0.72 gram gold (about 516,000 contained oz.) plus additional inferred resources of 18.1 million tonnes of 0.62 gram gold (360,000 contained oz.).
The deposit is on the southeastern edge of the Columbia Plateau and is underlain by a sequence of mid-Tertiary Payette formation sediments comprised predominantly of arkosic sandstones, shales and mudstones.
A low-sulphidation epithermal hot springs system drove circulating fluids to form a silica-rich opalite cap that pooled subsequent flow beneath allowing for the concentration of significant amounts of gold and silver mineralization within the permeable underlying sandstones.
Gold mineralization at Almaden is very fine-grained and controlled by both regional and district-scale structures trending northwest, north-northeast and east-west. Metal deposition is associated with silica flooding and multiple phase veining and brecciation along with argillic-carbonate alteration. Most of the mineralized zones tested to date are oxidized.
Freegold has also been working its Golden Summit project near Fairbanks, Alaska with recent drilling cutting a number of high-grade gold mineralized vein systems.
Shares of Freegold recently rallied to a new high at the $1.20-level, giving the company $59-million market capitalization based on its 49.2-million shares outstanding.
Be the first to comment on "Freegolds Almaden drilling cuts deeper, higher grades"