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Investors
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| | February 13, 2009
Livengood may contain nearly 10 million ounces of gold
Publisher: Alaska Journal of Commerce
Author: Patricia Liles
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| | - http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/021309/loc_img_23001.shtml
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| | Web posted Friday, February 13, 2009
By Patricia Liles
For the Journal
Explorers of the Livengood gold project released new mineral resource estimate based on 2008 drilling, indicating the parcel contains nearly 10 million ounces of microscopic gold in the host rock.
According to data released in late January, based on 173 drill holes and 10 trenches completed during the 2008 exploration season, Livengood's current estimates of indicated and inferred mineral resources contain a total of 9.72 million ounces of gold at a 0.3 grams per ton cutoff, or 0.009 ounces of gold per ton of rock.
Explorers of the Livengood gold project released new mineral resource estimate based on 2008 drilling, indicating the parcel contains nearly 10 million ounces of microscopic gold in the host rock.
"We have a large resource and it's expanding rapidly," said Jeff Pontius, president and CEO of International Tower Hill Mines Ltd., the Denver-based exploration company that is exploring the hard rock deposit at the placer mining community of Livengood.
At a higher cutoff of 0.5 grams per ton, or about 0.016 ounces per ton, the total estimated gold contained in Livengood is 6.8 million ounces in indicated and inferred resources. That's a 70 percent increase over the company's previously released geologic estimate for Livengood, complied and released last fall.
Both new resource estimates, as well as a third based on a higher-grade cutoff of 0.7 grams, or 0.0225 ounces of gold per ton of rock, were detailed in a Jan. 28 news release.
The 0.5-gram cutoff is significant, Pontius said, as it equals the minimum gold grade currently being processed at the nearby Fort Knox gold mill. The 0.3-gram is the typical cutoff for ore processed in low-cost heap leach facilities, he noted.
"The 0.3 grams is a meaningful number to look at for down the road planning for the project," Pontius said. "This project may look like a Fort Knox operation - low grade processed in a heap leach and the higher grade, mill it. If that's the case, the 0.3 grams is an important number because it's the endowment of the system right now."
International Tower currently plans to spend $4 million on the Livengood project in 2009, starting with a winter drilling program that began in early February. The spending and drilling work may increase in 2009, Pontius said Feb. 4.
"We're looking to expand, potentially to $8.5 million," he said. "We want another program like we ran in 2008, with three drill rigs turning and testing a whole bunch of aspects of the deposit."
Current plans call for this year's drilling program to test deeper mineralization in Livengood. Past drill work has targeted mineralization from surface down to about 650 feet, Pontius said.
"We plan some testing of the deep, potential feeder systems that have potentially higher grade material," he said. "This deposit remains open at depth. Right now, we've been drilling a very thin skin of this gold system, the top 200 meters, and many large gold deposits go deeper."
Past drill holes have ended in significant mineralization, the company said in its press release, outlining good potential for expanding the deposit at depth.
This winter's reverse circulation drilling program, planned to complete almost 20,000 feet of sampling, will target untested areas within the geologically calculated resource estimate area. Drilling has not previously sampled these areas due to ground conditions, Pontius said.
"It's mainly boggy areas that we just couldn't get onto," Pontius said. "We're drilling those in winter and that will fill in key areas within the deposit - large areas of unestimated blocks."
The additional geologic information will be incorporated into International Tower's first economic analysis of a potential open-pit mine operation in Livengood, expected to be produced and released later this year.
"We need to complete a model to see if it is economic," Pontius said. "The back of the envelope look is that it's a very attractive deposit."
Additionally, winter drilling may increase the overall resource estimate.
"Some of our best holes are drilled around this thing, but we just couldn't get in there last summer and fall," Pontius said. "We're pretty exited about what we're going to have ... have we got into the best part of this system? I don't know and can't with any confidence say we have or haven't. It's important to continue the drilling and continue exploring the deposit."
Pontius first started prospecting in Livengood in 2003, when he was overseeing exploration work in Alaska for AngloGold Ashanti, a major global gold producer. In 2006, AngloGold optioned its eight Alaska exploration properties to International Tower Hill Mines, and Pontius moved to the junior exploration firm. He now heads ITH and its wholly owned subsidiary, Talon Gold.
Since 2006, ITH has staked and optioned additional mineral exploration properties throughout Interior Alaska, ranging from the company's Chisna copper-gold property in the eastern Alaska Range to the Terra gold property in the southwestern part of the Alaska Range. Those additional properties will continue to be maintained by International Tower, Pontius said.
Livengood, with its location next to the Elliott Highway and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and proximity to Fort Knox and Fairbanks, became the key focus of the exploration company in recent years. That will continue in 2009, Pontius said.
"You don't come across these kinds of projects every day," he said. "We've identified a very large gold system that is only limited by our drilling at this point. We have no idea how big or where the best point is yet. We're still in the early stage of trying to sort out what we've got a hold of." |
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| | You can view the Previous Press Coverage item: Mon Feb 16, 2009, Livengood grows to 6.8M oz. gold for Tower Hill
You can view the Next Press Coverage item: Sat Jan 31, 2009, Huge gold discovery is made north of Fairbanks
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