Freegold Reports Positive Results from Initial Bulk Sampling at Golden Summit
17 June 2008 - 10:54PM
PR Newswire (US)
VANCOUVER, June 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Freegold Ventures
Limited (TSX: ITF, OTCBB: FGOVF, Frankfurt: FR4) is pleased to
provide an update on its bulk sampling activities at the Golden
Summit project located outside Fairbanks, Alaska, and to report the
first gold grades from the sampled material. The first samples
tested during the initial processing in late September and October
of 2007 had a weighted average grade of 2.7 g/tonne (0.08 oz/ton),
with individual stockpiles from a variety of areas tested ranging
from 0.6 g/tonne (0.02 oz/ton) to 7.0 g/tonne (0.21 oz/ton). A
total of 23,500 tons of material are currently stockpiled and are
awaiting testing and processing over the next four months, along
with a further estimated 45,000 tons that will be collected and
processed from the Beistline, Fence 1 and Tolovana areas. As
indicated in the June 13, 2008 release which provided an overview
on the Company's bulk sample processing and gravity-based gold
recovery activities, the primary purposes of the bulk-sampling
program at Golden Summit are to determine the continuity and
average grades of gold mineralization found within numerous
gold-bearing shear zones over a +5,000 foot strike length
discovered and delineated through sampling and mapping numerous
trenches and drilling over 1,000 shallow RAB holes over the past
two years. Bulk sample extraction commenced in the fall of 2006,
when approximately 10,000 tons of material was collected from nine
different locations - four of which were related to the
historically mined Cleary Hill vein and its newly discovered
eastern extension (the Beistline structure) while the other five
were from a number of veins and shear zones located immediately to
the south and sub-parallel to the east-west workings of the Cleary
Hill mine (the South Vein Swarm). Descriptions of these initial
samples can be found in the November 30, 2006 news release, with
sample locations shown in the March 29, 2007 release. This initial
bulk-sampling and associated overburden stripping confirmed that
the gold mineralization found in veins, shears and stockworks
extends over a much broader area than previously recognized, with
gold bleeding into the hanging and footwalls of the narrower high
grade quartz veins that were selectively mined underground in the
past. Following the permitting, construction and installation of
the Company's impact crusher and gravity-based processing plant
(located approximately 2 miles from the Cleary Hill Mine), the
first of the bulk sample stockpiles were crushed and sampled during
a limited processing run in late September and October of last year
before the winter shut-down. All of the vein and shear material
extracted during bulk sampling was stockpiled separately according
to sample location. Individual stockpiles were batched through the
crushing circuit using a horizontal impact crusher in closed
circuit with a vibrating 1/4" screen deck, and then weighed using
the belt scale on the conveyor feeding the gravity processing
plant. This material fed into the plant was then sampled every 15
minutes. The tonnages and average head grades of the individual
sample piles crushed and analyzed in 2007 are as follows:
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Sampled Material Tons Sampled Gold Grade (g/tonne) Gold Grade
(oz/ton)
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D-8 409 5.7 0.17
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Cleary Vein Cut #5 122 2.6 0.08
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Cleary HW 1064 0.6 0.02
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Cleary Road Cut 693 2.1 0.06
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Red Shaft 94 2.3 0.07
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Fence 1 Colorado 176 1.6 0.05
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Wackwitz Area 1 96 5.2 0.15
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Wackwitz Area 2 288 7.0 0.21
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Wackwitz Area 4 137 3.4 0.10
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While the grades of these surface samples are positive in relation
to the 0.61g/tonne grade of the reserves currently reported as
remaining within the neighboring Fort Knox gold mine, it is
important to note that the samples collected in 2006 were selective
in nature. These samples were also collected prior to the drilling
of the 1,000 shallow RAB holes over the past year and a half which
has added significantly to the Company's understanding of the
multiple 100 to 300 foot wide packages of veins and shear zones
which strike through the Cleary Hill and Tolovana areas. With the
re-commencement of processing for the 2008 season, four small piles
remain to be sampled and processed over the coming weeks, along
with 6,100 tons from the Beistline area, which represents the first
larger-scale sampling that was undertaken on the project. The 2006
Beistline bulk samples, which will be among the first material
processed in 2008, were collected from an excavation 300 feet long
by 30 feet deep and 30 feet wide. Approximately 2,850 tons of
mineralized material was collected from the vein system. Another
3,250 tons of mineralized material was collected from the "bleed"
material that splays into the hanging wall of the vein. Channel
sampling was conducted at the surface prior to excavation, with
vertical channel samples taken from the pit walls after excavation.
Surface samples of the 4" to 18" wide vein material averaged 39.5
g/tonne (1.15 oz/ton) along the 185 foot strike length tested,
while samples 5 to 10 feet into the hanging wall returned assays of
25.3, 34.3, 31.1, 26.1 and 46.3 g/tonne (0.74 to 1.35 oz/ton).
Vertical channel samples ranging from 2 to 5 feet in length were
taken every 10 to 20 feet along the walls of the initial pit and
ranged from a low of 0.24 g/tonne (0.007 oz/ton) over 2 feet, to
highs of 65.3 g/tonne (1.9 oz/ton) and 616.7 g/tonne (18.0 oz/ton)
over 3-foot intervals. The bulk sampling that was conducted in 2007
focused on two areas in order to provide much larger samples that
are more representative of the bulk tonnage mineralization found in
the Cleary Hill area. The sampling in the Beistline area extended
the previously tested area through a new cut approximately 550 feet
long (oriented east-west) and 90 to 140 feet wide over an average
depth of 10 feet. Following completion of this cut, the bulk
sampling moved to the area where Fence 1 of the RAB drilling was
conducted. Sampling here was conducted over a 750 foot long
(oriented north-south) by 50 foot wide area. As the ground in this
area slopes from south to north, 5 separate excavations were
conducted in a step-like fashion, with the depth of each cut
ranging from 1 to 2 feet on the north sides to 15 feet on south
sides. Where the Cleary Hill vein was encountered, additional
sampling was done on a 100 foot long by 130 foot wide area to a 10
foot depth to further test the bleed mineralization in this area.
As both the Cleary Hill and the Beistline areas were drilled with
close spaced RAB holes prior to their excavation, the results of
these samples will permit the first reconciliation of bulk sample
grades with those predicted by the drilling. The orientation of the
two excavations also tested the continuity of the gold
mineralization along the strike of one of the shear zones in one
instance (Beistline) and perpendicular to the strike, and running
through multiple shear zones in the other (Fence 1). A total of
23,250 tons of material is currently stockpiled for processing over
the coming months. These are broken down as follows:
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Sample Location Tons Sampled Sample Location Ton Sampled
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
2007 Coarse Tails 3,500 Currey Shear 200
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Penrose Dump 150 Beistline Structure 2,850
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Mixed clean-up 500 Beistline Bleed 3,250
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Fence 1 100 2007 Beistline 5,500
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Alaska vein 200 2007 Fence 1 7,000
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In addition to the above stockpiles, an additional 45,000 tons is
expected to be sampled in 2008, bringing the total estimated amount
of material to be processed over the next four months to
approximately 70,000 tons. This new 45,000 tons will be extracted
from a second and third cut in the Beistline area, by extending and
deepening the prior Fence 1 sampling, and from the Tolovana area,
where a new bulk sampling area will be opened up to test extensive
shearing and stockwork veining encountered in the 2007 RAB drilling
in this area. True widths of the veins reported in this release are
variable, as the orientation of the various mineralized structures
encountered throughout the drilling and bulk sampling is variable.
Alaska Assay Laboratories in Fairbanks, Alaska is being used to
analyze the gold via fire assay analysis plus multi element ICP-AES
and ICP-MS analysis using 4 acid digestion. All gravity process
plant samples, whether from the feed, of from various locations
within the plant or the tailings, are assayed for gold via met
screen assay with gravimetric finish. The Qualified Person, Michael
P. Gross, M.S., P. Geo., VP Exploration, Freegold Ventures Limited
has reviewed and approved the contents of this release. About
Freegold Ventures Limited Freegold Ventures Limited is a North
American exploration and development company with a management team
experienced in mine development and production, and that has a
proven track-record in transitioning exploration companies into
gold producers. The Company is currently exploring advanced-stage
gold projects in Idaho and Alaska. Freegold holds a 100% lease
interest in the Almaden gold project in Idaho. This large tonnage
epithermal gold deposit was the subject of a feasibility study in
1997 calling for the development of a 95,000 oz/year open pit, heap
leach mine. Freegold has recently finalized a 54,700-foot drilling
program which has successful identified numerous extensions to the
gold mineralization, along with newly identified open-ended areas
of molybdenum mineralization. The Company is in the process of
generating a new 43-101 resource which will be followed with the
commencement of new economic evaluations. Freegold's 40, 100-foot
drill program in 2007 continued to discovery new high-grade veins
and bulk tonnage shear zones on its 93% controlled Golden Summit
project outside Fairbanks, Alaska. Over 7 million ounces of gold
has historically been recovered from Golden Summit which is
situated less than 5 miles to the north of the +7 million ounce
Fort Knox Mine. Further evaluation and expansion of the
mineralization is currently being undertaken with a combination of
closely spaced shallow drilling, deeper, systematic core drilling
and on-going bulk sampling program using an on-site gravity-based
concentration plant. Drilling in 2008 will also be conducted on the
company's 100% controlled Rob property, where the Company has
intersected high-grade gold in near surface quartz veins similar in
appearance and grade to those being mined at the nearby 5.6 million
ounce Pogo, and on the Vinasale property, where the Company has
entered into an exploration agreement with option to lease on a
140,000 acre property in Alaska which contains the previously
identified Vinasale gold deposit. On behalf of the Board of
Directors "Steve Manz" Steve Manz, President and C.E.O. DISCLAIMER
- This news release contains certain "Forward-Looking Statements"
within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than
statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking
statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can
be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and
actual results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations
are disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time
with the Toronto Stock Exchange, British Columbia Securities
Commission and the United States Securities & Exchange
Commission. The TSX has neither approved nor disapproved the
contents of this news release. CUSIP: 45953B107 CONTACT: Mark
Feeney - Investor Relations, (604) 786-2587, DATASOURCE: Freegold
Ventures Limited CONTACT: Mark Feeney - Investor Relations, (604)
786-2587,
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