Fronteer Gold Inc. (TSX: FRG)(NYSE Amex: FRG) announces that an
interim resource estimate for its wholly owned Long Canyon gold
deposit has increased the Measured and Indicated (M&I) resource
by 700,000 ounces at 38% higher grade, and increased the Inferred
resource by 250,000 ounces at 36% higher grade.
This significant increase in ounces at substantially higher
grades has been achieved almost entirely through infill drilling
within the previously defined (2009) footprint of the deposit.
Mineralization at Long Canyon is oxidized and open in all
directions. Drilling in 2011 will focus on resource expansion.
This new estimate captures all drilling to early November 2010,
but does not include the results from the last five weeks of
step-out drilling, which involved more than 30 additional holes.
Within the next two months, Fronteer Gold will complete a second
resource update that includes all drill results from 2010 to form
the basis of an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment.
THE GROWING RESOURCE BASE
Quoted at a cut-off grade of 0.20 grams per tonne gold, the
updated Classified Mineral Resource consists of:
-- An M&I resource of 1,396,000 ounces at an average grade of 2.36 g/t gold
(18,371,000 tonnes) and,
-- An additional Inferred resource of 803,000 ounces at an average grade of
2.24 g/t gold (11,170,000 tonnes).
A cut-off grade of 0.20 g/t gold was chosen to be consistent
with the internal cut-off defined by Long Canyon's current
Preliminary Economic Assessment (see Dec. 1, 2009, press
release).
"We are delighted with the pace at which Long Canyon is growing,
and the fact that gold grade is increasing as the deposit evolves.
In our view, Long Canyon is one of the highest quality
development-stage gold deposits in North America today in terms of
its grade, metallurgy, strong growth profile, low-cost production
attributes, and jurisdiction," says Fronteer Gold Chief Operating
Officer Troy Fierro. "At Long Canyon, we have already built the
foundation for near-term mine development, including securing a
dominant position in this emerging gold district, acquiring
significant water and private surface rights, and maintaining a
strong treasury to fund the project's advancement. With Long Canyon
as our flagship asset in our Nevada development platform, we are
strongly positioned to achieve our goal of becoming a significant
premium North American gold producer."
A unique attribute of Long Canyon's resource estimate is that
gold content is relatively insensitive to cut-off grade. Applying
higher cut-off grades to the resource estimate dramatically
increases the average grade of the resource but only modestly
reduces the number of contained ounces. This relationship is best
exemplified by the grade-tonnage distribution shown at various
cut-off grades in the table below.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Measured Indicated
Tonnes Grade Ounces Tonnes Grade Ounces
COG (g/t) (000s) (g/t) (000s) (000s) (g/t) (000s)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.2 762 2.91 71 17,609 2.34 1,324
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.0 458 4.51 66 9,286 3.98 1,187
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.0 218 7.53 53 3,848 7.21 892
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.0 136 9.65 42 2,592 8.80 733
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
M + I Inferred
Tonnes Grade Ounces Tonnes Grade Ounces
COG (g/t) (000s) (g/t) (000s) (000s) (g/t) (000s)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.2 18,371 2.36 1,396 11,170 2.24 803
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.0 9,744 4.00 1,254 5,990 3.70 713
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.0 4,067 7.22 944 2,250 7.09 513
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.0 2,728 8.84 775 1,534 8.56 422
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
At 1.0 g/t cut-off, there is a 68% increase in grade with only
an 11% loss of metal. At 5.0 g/t cut-off, we retain the same number
of ounces as Long Canyon's last resource estimate (see May 19, 2010
press release), but at five times the average grade.
2011 GOALS
Since acquiring 100% of Long Canyon in late 2010 and expanding
our exploration and development program to year-round, it is our
intention to update this resource on an ongoing basis to keep pace
with engineering work and mine-planning activities. Long Canyon's
comprehensive 2011 work program is focused on aggressive resource
expansion, as well as on the metallurgical, engineering and
environmental work necessary to move the project to feasibility
stage. A $30-million work program for 2011 includes:
-- a year-round drill program of more than 100,000 metres of exploration
and development drilling;
-- additional updated resource estimate in Q1 2011, inclusive of step out
results;
-- completing an updated resource and updated Preliminary Economic
Assessment in H1 2011;
-- initiating permitting;
-- completing an additional resource update near year-end 2011; and,
-- commencing feasibility stage.
The Long Canyon mineral resource estimate was completed by James
Gray, P.Geo., Director of Mineral Resources for Fronteer Gold, who
is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and
has reviewed and validated that the information contained in the
release is consistent with the resource estimate. The Mineral
Resource estimation methodologies were independently reviewed at a
high level, and were deemed to meet CIM Definition Standards for
Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (2010), by Harry Parker,
P.Geo., Technical Director, AMEC, and Georges Verly, P.Eng., Chief
Geostatistician, AMEC.
The resource model was constructed using a new and more
geostatistically-driven approach than has been used in previous
Long Canyon resource estimates, and was designed to capture the
combined structural and stratigraphic nature of gold
mineralization. The model is based on manually-digitized 3
dimensional geological solids for 10 different lithological units
and 20 different structural domains that were used to constrain the
interpolation of high and low grade indicator probability shells.
Gold grades were then estimated for each 5x10x5 metre block inside
these probability shells by inverse-distance-cubed interpolation.
Finally, each block was diluted using grades from adjacent blocks
and outlying blocks were manually removed to ensure that the
criteria of 'reasonable expectations for economic extraction' have
been met. Classification of the resource is based on the strength
of the geological understanding of the deposit, combined with
relatively conservative search parameters, such as the number of,
and average distances to, nearest drill holes. This updated Mineral
Resource estimate is quoted at a cut-off grade of 0.20 g/t gold to
be consistent with the internal cut-off defined by Long Canyon's
initial Preliminary Economic Assessment (see Dec. 1, 2009, press
release or NI 43-101 report, "Updated Technical Report on the Long
Canyon Project Elko County, Nevada, USA," dated June 28, 2010, and
posted on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) on July 2, 2010. Further details of
the estimation procedure will be available in an updated NI 43-101
report, which will be posted on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), no later
than 45 days from the date of this release.
ABOUT FRONTEER GOLD
We intend to become a significant gold producer. Our future
potential production platform includes our Long Canyon, Sandman and
Northumberland projects - all located in Nevada. We also have a 40%
interest in Halilaga, an emerging copper-gold porphyry deposit in
northwestern Turkey. For further information on Fronteer Gold,
visit www.fronteergold.com.
Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein,
certain information presented constitutes "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of the United States Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking
statements, including but not limited to, those with respect to
potential expansion of mineralization, potential size of
mineralized zone, potential type of mining operation and timing and
size of exploration and development programs involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the
actual results, performance or achievement of Fronteer Gold to be
materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. Such factors include, among others, risks related to
the actual results of current exploration activities, conclusions
of economic evaluations, uncertainty in the estimation of ore
reserves and mineral resources, changes in project parameters as
plans continue to be refined, future prices of gold and silver,
environmental risks and hazards, increased infrastructure and/or
operating costs, labor and employment matters, and government
regulation and permitting requirements as well as those factors
discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Fronteer Gold's
Annual Information form and Fronteer Gold's latest Form 40-F on
file with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in
Washington, D.C. Although Fronteer Gold has attempted to identify
important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be
as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance
that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results
and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in
such statements. Fronteer Gold disclaims any intention or
obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements.
NEWS RELEASE 11-01
Contacts: Fronteer Gold Inc. Mark O'Dea President & CEO
604-632-4677 or Toll Free 1-877-632-4677 Fronteer Gold Inc. Patrick
Reid Senior Director, Institutional Marketing 604-632-4677 or Toll
Free 1-877-632-4677 info@fronteergold.com www.fronteergold.com
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