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Few areas of the world have a mining history comparable
to Canada's Yukon Territory thanks to the fabled
Klondike Gold Rush which took place from the late 1890's
into the early years of the Twentieth Century. Tens of
thousands of prospectors and treasure-hunters poured
into the Territory thanks to the discovery of placer
gold along a tributary of the Klondike River, itself a
tributary of the mighty Yukon River.
One company active in seeking new mineral wealth in this
fascinating and beautiful region is Vancouver-based
Northern Freegold Resources Ltd. During late July, in
association with the Yukon Gold Mining Alliance, the
company hosted a touring group of journalists, industry
analysts and geologists at their Freegold Mountain
Project located about 125 miles (200 Km) northwest of
the capital city of Whitehorse. I was fortunate to be a
part of that tour.
Several factors have combined to raise the importance of
mining to the general economy of the Yukon, thereby
motivating both the Canadian federal government in
Ottawa and Yukon's Territorial government in Whitehorse
to favour the mining industry. As a result, the Yukon
consistently ranks in the top ten in the well-known
Fraser Institute mining-related ratings of government
jurisdictions around the world.
For those who are history buffs, the world-famous
Klondike Gold Rush which transformed the Yukon began in
August, 1896 with the discovery of visible placer gold
on Rabbit Creek, later re-named "Bonanza Creek" and
located close to where the Yukon River flows by Dawson
City. As word of the gold find spread, an enormous,
legendary rush into the Yukon took place with most
'immigrants' gathering in Seattle, sailing to Skagway,
Alaska and then climbing the difficult, sometimes
terrifying White Pass, leading to the waters of the
Yukon River and the interior of the Yukon. As the
Yukon's population and fame grew, the federal government
granted the area separate Territorial status in 1898.
Within a short time, more than 100,000 prospectors and 'wanna-be'
merchants and entrepreneurs had poured into the Yukon
and the population of Dawson City - the central
community of the Klondike Gold Rush - had swelled from a
scattered few to almost 30,000 people.
Placer mining exploration and operations soon spread
into many areas of the Yukon, leaving behind a body of
knowledge which has proven invaluable to this era's
mining explorers and developers, based on the concept
that if gold - one of nature's heaviest elements - had
found its way down to the bottom of river valleys, it
most likely had originated somewhere in the heights
above.
The Freegold Mountain Project is located within an
active exploration area in the Tintina Gold Belt which
stretches across parts of Yukon and the State of
Alaska. Both the producing Fort Knox Mine, operated by
Kinross Gold Corp. and the Pogo Mine, operated by
Sumitomo Metal Mining are located in Alaska while more
recent discoveries including Kaminak Gold Corporation
and Atac Resources are in the Yukon. Both jurisdictions
host numerous multi-million ounce gold deposits.
Freegold Mountain has a lengthy exploration history
dating back to the initial discovery of lode gold in
1930 by prospector P. F. Guder. As word of Guder's
discovery spread, a mini gold rush developed with
prospectors eventually staking over 100 claims.
Following this initial burst of activity, only sporadic
exploration work took place until the 1950's when the
area was caught up in a new search for porphyry
deposits.
Since the 1960's the Freegold Mountain Property had been
owned and explored by a patchwork of individuals and
companies and finally, in 2006, all the various claims
were consolidated by Northern Freegold Resources into
one cohesive project area covering about 200 square
kilometers within the Whitehorse Mining District. The
company negotiated an Agreement in 2006 to acquire a 50%
interest in the project and a later Agreement was
negotiated in 2007 allowing the company to acquire a
100% interest, subject to 1-3% Net Smelter Return (NSR)
provisions with previous owner ATAC Resources.
Freegold Mountain is underlain by Paleozoic or older
metasedimentary and lesser metavolcanic rocks belonging
to the Yukon-Tenana Terrane. The basement metamorphic
rocks are extensively intruded by Jurassic to Late
Cretaceous igneous rocks of the Coast Plutonic Complex.
Mid-Cretaceous intrusive rocks include the Dawson Range
Batholith, Casino granodiorite and Coffee Creek
Granite. The two main deposits at Freegold Mountain are
named “Nucleus” and “Revenue.”
The company has conducted extensive exploration work
programs since 2006 including several diamond and
reverse circulation drill programs; Induced Polarization
(IP) surveys; geochemical surveys; geological mapping;
stream geochemical sampling and ground geophysics. At
various times, the company's work camps have hosted as
many as 70 employees.
Northern Freegold released an Inferred Resource Estimate
for the Revenue Zone in early 2012 which, at a cut-off
grade of 0.3 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent (AuEq),
showed 158 million tonnes grading 027 g/t Au containing
1,345,000 oz gold; 2.49 g/t Ag containing 12,605,000 oz
silver; 0.11% Cu containing 370,517,000 lbs copper and
0.03% Mo containing 103,560,000 lbs molybdenum with a
total AuEq value of 0.83 g/t.
In January 2013 the company published the results of a
Mineral Resource Estimate (NI 43-101 qualified) for the
Nucleus Zone which contained both Indicated and Inferred
resource data. Highlights of the new estimate include a
subcropping higher grade zone containing 25.9 million
tonnes grading 1.02 g/t gold (851,603 oz gold) that has
the potential to be exploited in the initial years of a
mining operation.
Using a similar cut-off grade, Inferred resources showed
60,398,000 tonnes grading 0.41 g/t Au containing 801,000
oz gold; 1.5 g/t Ag containing 2,876,000 silver and
0.04% Cu containing 52,244,000 lbs copper for a total
AuEq of 0.46 g/t.
The company has a distinct advantage over many other
exploratory deposits in the Yukon Territory in the form
of infrastructure which includes existing roads into
Freegold Mountain Project from the main Whitehorse -
Dawson City highway as well as commercial power access
just 30 km distant. According to company President and
CEO John Burges, other companies without such an
established road and available power sources can face
infrastructure costs of many hundreds of millions of
dollars before they can advance their projects toward
eventual production.
It is also worth noting that several other companies now
hold interests in the general area of NFR’s projects
including Dawson Gold, Teck Resources, Capstone Mining,
Carmacks Copper, Ethos Gold, Kaminak Gold and, quite
prominently, Western Copper and Gold’s Casino Project.
As a result, the potential for area infrastructure
improvements would appear to be high and one plan which
has received mention is for the Yukon government to
rehabilitate the old Yukon and White Pass Railroad which
would give access by rail from Whitehorse to port
facilities by the Pacific Ocean in Alaska.
Burges also noted the company's long-range goals include
proving up a world class deposit as both the Nucleus and
Revenue Deposits remain open in all directions and at
depth with the polymetallic Tinta Deposit also available
for exploration and development.
At present, the Yukon is served by an international
airport located in Whitehorse, plus several smaller
facilities in communities like Dawson City or Mayo, as
well as numerous private landing strips throughout the
territory, many of them closely associated with mining
activities. Helicopter service is also available for
quick and reliable access to mining camps.
Aside from all the other advantages noted earlier,
mining within the Yukon is also attractive for two other
reasons. First, Canada and the Yukon provide a very
stable background of government laws and regulations,
unlike many nations in Africa, South America, Central
America and elsewhere where courts are unreliable,
taxation can be oppressive and where governments often
demand a portion of a company's project before work can
begin.
Second, relations between First Nations peoples and the
Yukon government have been stable and agreements have
been honoured. During our tour, company Director Tim
Termuende, P. Geol., also pointed out that the First
Nations people in the Yukon tend to have lengthy periods
of residence which means that as native personnel are
trained, they are highly likely to be available for a
lengthy period of time, thereby reducing or even
eliminating frequent re-training, one of the
difficulties faced by miners in other jurisdictions.
Also, due to its remote location, difficulties presented
by environmental regulatory procedures have tended to be
much more reasonable and, as a result, the permitting
process in the Yukon has tended to be more reliable than
in other locations.
Northern Freegold's management team is led by President
and CEO John Burges; Chairman of the Board John
Anderson; V.P. Exploration Paul Reynolds, P. Geol.; CFO
Glen Diduck and Directors Tim Termuende, Greg Johnson,
Founder Bill Harris and Marco Strub.
For further information, contact the company via e-mail
at
administration@northernfreegold.com or
access the corporate website at
www.northernfreegold.com.
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