Teck undergound at Pogo

With all necessary permits in hand, Teck (TEK-T) is ready to explore underground at the Pogo project in Alaska.

The program will begin immediately with the mobilization of men and construction materials. The property is 90 miles southeast of Fairbanks and 40 miles north of the town of Delta Junction in the Goodpaster district of east-central Alaska, and is accessible by helicopter and small fixed-wing aircraft. Road access is limited to winter months. A 3,000-ft.-long winter airstrip has been built to allow the use of larger aircraft.

The project hosts a resource conservatively estimated at 10 million tons grading 0.52 oz. gold per ton, equivalent to 5.2 million contained ounces.

The Liese deposit, part of the Pogo project, is characterized by a series of large, tabular, gently dipping subparallel quartz bodies. Liese is divided into a main zone, or L1, and a lower zone, called L2. The former is estimated to contain a resource of 7.2 million tonnes grading 0.53 oz., equivalent to 3.8 million oz., whereas L2 hosts about 2.7 million tonnes grading 0.5 oz., equivalent to 1.4 million oz. The two zones are spaced about 500 ft. apart.

Teck will be driving a 5,200-ft.-long adit under Pogo Ridge to intersect L1 with the objective of obtaining geotechnical data, to confirm the continuity of the quartz bodies for mining, and to obtain a bulk sample for metallurgical testing. Engineering and environmental studies to support feasibility work will be carried out.

A possible third zone, L3, has been pierced by two deep drill holes 400 ft. below L2. Underground drilling will try to confirm this zone.

In conjunction with the underground program, Teck will be conducting surface drilling to define the upper L1 and lower L2 zones.

A prefeasibility study is to be completed by the fall of 1999, and a final feasibility is due by the end of 2000.

Teck is earning a 40% interest in the project from Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining by spending US$28 million and producing the feasibility. Teck is also responsible for funding the first US$33 million of development costs.