Overview
Discover the unrivaled potential of Freegold Ventures (TSX:FVL,OTCQX:FGOVF), an exceptional exploration company with its flagship asset located in the world-renowned Tintina gold belt. Located a mere 30-minute drive from Fairbanks, Golden Summit now hosts what is believed to be one of the largest undeveloped gold resources in North America.
Freegold's Shorty Creek project, meanwhile, is an untapped world of copper and gold situated just 125 road kilometers northwest of Fairbanks. This hidden gem of an asset boasts extensive exploration potential and a plethora of promising targets just waiting to be uncovered. With impressive drill results including multiple intercepts greater than 0.25 percent copper, as well as gold, silver and tungsten over wide intervals of 300 to 400 meters, the Shorty Creek project is primed for success.
In February 2024, Freegold further solidified its land position by completing the acquisition of the Tolovana gold property, also in Alaska. The property was previously subject to a 20-year lease, all obligations of which have now been assumed by Freegold, including annual lease payments.
Alaska’s exploration potential is second to none in North America. The state is already a significant gold producer, second only to Nevada in the United States. Today, metals contribute to more than 90 percent of the value of minerals mined in Alaska, which has a long and prosperous mining history with significant underexplored mineral resources. Several notable companies with producing mines in Alaska include Kinross Gold (TSE:
K), Northern Star Resources (ASX:
NST), Hecla Mining (NYSE:
HL), Coeur Mining (NYSE:CDE), and Teck Resources (NYSE:
TECK).
Following a period of relative dormancy since its last major drill program in 2013, Freegold completed more than 83,000 meters of drilling (131 holes) between 2020 and 2022, resulting in a significant boost in its mineral resource estimate.
The current resource is limited to the Dolphin-Cleary Area, the only area of the project with a delineated resource. However, with the deposit still open, specifically towards the west and southwest, Freegold has identified a gold-in-soil geochemical anomaly that is yet to be drill-tested, presenting a remarkable opportunity for further exploration. The 2023 exploration program aimed to expand the deposit and explore other highly prospective targets within the property, unleashing the full potential of this gold-rich property.
A highly experienced management team leads the company with decades of experience in mineral exploration and development. It is supported by a board with rich geological, production and financial expertise. Freegold’s team has demonstrated knowledge in developing resources and a history of attracting major partners, including prolific investor Eric Sprott.
Company Highlights
- Freegold Ventures’ Golden Summit is a gold project located in the prolific Tintina gold province, 30 minutes away from the city of Fairbanks in Alaska.
- 2023 mineral resource estimate shows an indicated resource of 12 million ounces and an inferred resource of 7.7 million ounces using $1,792 gold, making the Golden Summit project one of the largest independently owned undeveloped gold resources in North America.
- The 2023 drill program has been completed with results from the Saddle Zone demonstrating significant expansion potential with drilling 250 meters west of the main ClearyDolphin zone intersecting multiple zones with over 2 grams per ton (g/t) of gold over a considerable width (2.12 g/t over 197.3 meters ) within a broader interval of 1.76 g/t gold over 276.5 meters.
- Several significant exploration targets remain to be tested.
- The project is located approximately 8 kilometers northwest of Kinross’s Fort Knox mine, which has produced more than 8 million ounces of gold to date
- Freegold Ventures’ Shorty Creek is an underexplored copper, gold and tungsten porphyry project with multiple prospective targets. It is also in proximity to the city of Fairbanks.
- Most recently, Freegold Ventures has completed the acquisition of the Tolovana gold property in Alaska for US$655,260.
Key Projects
Golden Summit
An initial resource was completed at Golden Summit in 2011 based on historical work completed on the project, and between 2011 and 2013 several mineral resource updates were completed.
The company released a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) in 2016, which at $1,300 per ounce gold price resulted in a pit constrained indicated resource of 61.46 million tonnes, containing 1.36 million ounces at 0.69 grams per ton (g/t) gold, and inferred resources of 71.50 million tonnes, containing 1.58 million ounces of 0.69 g/t gold.
Freegold's innovative and forward-thinking approach led the company to revise its interpretation in 2019, revealing untapped potential to not only increase the resource size but also elevate the overall deposit grade. Thanks to the backing of notable gold investor Eric Sprott, Freegold raised an initial $2 million to test this concept, resulting in the best drill hole in Golden Summit's history - a remarkable 188 meters at 3.69 g/t gold in May 2020. Such success paved the way for further funding, with the company ultimately amassing an impressive treasury of over C$40 million between May and September 2020. This funding permitted the completion of an intense drilling program, culminating in a resource update in February 2023, with over 83,000 meters of drilling completed.
The 2020-2022 drilling resulted in a substantial increase in the overall resource quality and quantity at the Golden Summit project and as a result, Golden Summit has now emerged as one of the most significant undeveloped gold resources in North America. Not only is the resource increase impressive, but Freegold's discovery cost is nearly unrivaled in the industry, at just $4/oz.
Optionality: Another Plus
Despite boasting a significant size, Golden Summit has what is termed “optionality.” In simple terms, increasing the cut-off grade leads to an increase in the overall grade. The base case for the resource used a 0.45 g/t gold cut-off. Even after increasing the cut-off to 0.75 g/t gold, the resource still remains near the top of undeveloped gold resources in North America.
Freegold’s 2023 drill program has been very successful in demonstrating significant expansion potential with drilling 250 meters west of the main ClearyDolphin zone intersecting multiple zones with over 2 g/t of gold over a considerable width (2.12 g/t over 197.3 meters) within a broader interval of 1.76 g/t gold over 276.5 meters.
Results of drilling at the Saddle zone, which is 4 kilometers east of the central Dolphin/Cleary zone, also show further expansion potential to the east. The Saddle zone comprises an extensive vein system mapped on the surface, covering a 3-kilometer by 1-kilometer area. The 2023 program tested an 800-meter strike length of this vein swarm and successfully intersected attractive gold and silver mineralization in all seven reconnaissance holes.
Systematic exploration has identified several other exploration targets which will be drill tested in 2023. Historical past producers like the Cleary Hill Mine, which yielded an impressive 281,000 oz with an average grade of 1.3 oz/t, underscore the potential for success of this approach. Notably, the Dolphin-Cleary area's high-grade veins are flanked by lower-grade envelopes that contain significant tonnage. The American Eagle, another historic high-grade producer located 4 kilometers east presents an excellent opportunity to identify a new, potentially significant large tonnage deposit. In addition, to the west of the Dolphin-Cleary, lies a gold-in-soil anomaly spanning over 1 kilometer in the direction of the past-producing Newsboy Mine. Freegold's systematic approach to exploration positions the company well for further success.
Shorty Creek
The Shorty Creek is a copper-gold and tungsten porphyry project located in Alaska. The approximately 31,000-acre project is accessible by highway and situated 125 kilometers from the city of Fairbanks, which has access to infrastructure and services. The Shorty Creek project is also 4 kilometers from former mining town Livengood, a community primarily based on placer gold production.
Freegold initially acquired the project in 2014, with the discovery hole drilled in 2015. This hole, SC 15-03, intersected 292.6 meters grading 0.26 percent copper, 0.12 g/t gold, and 3.23 g/t silver, including 91.4 meters grading 0.55 percent copper, 0.14 g/t gold, and 7.02 g/t silver. Subsequent drilling between 2016 and 2019 has returned several long intercepts, such as in SC 16-02 which returned 434.5 meters grading 0.36 percent copper, 0.12 g/t gold, 7.46 g/t silver, and 0.034 percent tungsten trioxide. Most of the holes ended in mineralization.
The use of airborne magnetic survey data has proved invaluable to exploration at Shorty Creek. Multiple targets have been identified throughout a 100-square-kilometer area. Particular success has been had at Hill 1835, where the 1-kilometer by 1.5-kilometer magnetic anomaly appears to be directly associated with copper mineralization. A significant amount of drilling has already been completed on this compelling target, and the potential for additional discovery remains high.
In 2021, approximately 3,400 meters of drilling were completed. With limited exploration and only one area systematically explored, and multiple identified targets on the property, the project presents an opportunity to participate in a potentially significant copper-gold porphyry project.
Management Team
Ron Ewing - Director and Chairman
Ron Ewing has 30 years of experience in the mining and mineral exploration and operational industry as a director and officer of several public companies. As an officer, he served in various finance and corporate affairs functions. Ewing was the director and officer of Gold-Ore Resources until Elgin Mining acquired it. Ewing was also the executive vice-president of Euro-Zinc Mining, the vice-president of Lundin Mining, and Oro Mining’s director.
Kristina Walcott - President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Kristina Walcott has worked in various capacities in the mining and mineral exploration industry for the past 20 years. She has been president and CEO of Freegold Ventures since September 2009 and a director since July 2010. Walcott has held multiple administrative and field positions. In addition, she was actively involved in the geophysical contracting industry where she assisted in remote-site field geophysical surveys for major and junior mining firms. Before she was appointed president and CEO, Walcott was the company’s vice-president of business development between March 2005 and September 2009. As the vice-president of business development, she was responsible for identifying and acquiring new business opportunities in the mining sector.
Alvin Jackson - Director and VP of Exploration and Development
Alvin Jackson has been a director of Freegold Ventures since March 2010 and the vice president of exploration and development since February 2011. Jackson was instrumental in the development of EuroZinc Mining Corporation. EuroZinc Mining acquired the Aljustrel zinc-lead project and the Neves-Corvo copper mine in southern Portugal. As a result of those acquisitions, EuroZinc Mining Corporation grew to a market capitalization of over $1.8 billion before merging with Lundin Mining in 2006. Jackson has over 40 years of experience in mineral exploration and mine development. Jackson was directly involved in the exploration and development of two significant gold deposits and one porphyry copper deposit –– all of which subsequently became producers.
David Knight - Director
David Knight was a securities and mining lawyer primarily and was a senior partner with Weirfoulds LLP based in Toronto. His practice advised clients on securities, including public and private financing, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and regulatory compliance.
Knight also represented mining clients on property acquisition and development, including option and joint venture agreements. Knight also has extensive experience in flow-through financing. He has been ranked among the Best Lawyers in Canada, from 2011-2021. Natural Resources Law, as a recommended lawyer in mining law. Knight was also seconded to the Ontario Securities Commission from 1983 to 1984.
Garnet Dawson - Director
Garnet Dawson is currently a director at GoldMining Inc. He is a registered professional geologist with 30 years of domestic and international exploration experience. He was the former vice-president of exploration of EuroZinc Mining before it merged with Lundin Mining in 2006. Before joining EuroZinc, he consulted internationally and held several positions with Battle Mountain Canada, the British Columbia Geological Survey, and Esso Minerals Canada. He has a Bachelor of Science in geology from the University of Manitoba and a Master of Science in economic geology from the University of British Columbia.
Glen Dickson - Director
Glen Dickson has over 40 years of exploration and mining and operational experience in several different countries. During the past 30 years, he focused on gold exploration in a wide variety of depositional environments. He served as the president, chief executive officer, and director of Cumberland Resources Limited. With Cumberland, Dickson was directly responsible for the identification and advancement of two gold mining districts in Nunavut. Today combined annual production from the two districts totals 750,000 ounces of gold, historic productions totals 4.5 mounces and current reserves total 6 million ounces. The company was acquired by Agnico Eagle Mines. He served as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Gold-Ore Resources. During this time Gold-Ore acquired and restarted a gold mine in Northern Sweden. Currently, the mine produces ~45,000 ounces per annum. Gold-Ore was acquired by ElginMining. Dickson served as a director on several other companies including Atna Resources, BrazilianGold Corporation and Venerable Ventures. Dickson is currently president and CEO of Meliadine Gold, a private resource company with mineral holdings in Nunavut.
Reagan Glazier - Director
Reagan Glazier received a Bachelor of Science in Geology from the University of Calgary in 2014. He has been active in the mineral exploration industry in BC for the past 10+ years and is currently the President and CEO of Pacific Bay Minerals.
Maurice Tagami - Director
Maurice Tagami served as the vice-president of mining operations and later as technical ambassador for Wheaton Precious Metals from July 2012 to November 2022. He is a metallurgical engineer from the University of British Columbia with over 40 years of experience in mining and mineral processing. He was responsible for maintaining partnerships with over 20 operating mines and 13 development projects from which Wheaton Precious Metals. has metal streaming agreements. Tagami currently serves on the board of Maple Gold Mines and Foran Mining Corporation as the lead independent director. Previously, he held the positions of president and CEO, with Keegan Resources and senior project manager (Onca Puma Project) with Canico Resource.
Vivienne Artz - Director
Vivienne Artz is a board director and advisor, strategic consultant and expert on data and privacy, financial crime and inclusion diversity issues, with over twenty years of experience in the financial services sector. Previously, Artz was a managing director and chief privacy officer at the London Stock Exchange Group, Refinitiv and Thomson Reuters, leading the privacy office and overseeing global privacy strategy and practice across 190 countries. Artz was global head of privacy legal at Citibank where she worked for 17 years, after practicing as a lawyer in London. Artz is a patron of Women in Finance, Rwanda, and is on the advisory board of Women in Banking and Finance UK, having been president and CEO from 2017 to 2020. Artz was awarded an Officer of the British Empire in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours in 2021 for services to financial services and gender diversity.
Gordon Steblin - Chief Financial Officer
Gordon Steblin obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1983 from the University of British Columbia. In 1985, he became a certified general accountant. Steblin has over 20 years of financial experience in junior mining and exploration. Steblin is also the chief financial officer of Elysee Development and Arctic Hunter Energy, both TSX Venture-listed companies.
Greg Hanks - Director
Greg Hanks has held some management and senior management roles throughout his more than 20 years in the financial services industry. He has extensive experience in commercial and industrial lending. He is now self-employed. He has held several non-profit board positions and is currently on the board of Resource Connector North and TSXV-listed Canex Metals.
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Figure 1 – Comet Vale Project location, WA