THE UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY June 18 said it is accepting public comments on the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation request for approval of an Alaska version of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program, pursuant to section 402 of the Clean Water Act. The ADEC seeks approval to administer a program regulating discharges of pollutants into waters of the United States under its jurisdiction. The State’s request includes an implementation plan that transfers the administration of specific program components from EPA to the State over a three-year period from the date of program approval. If EPA approves the Alaska Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program application, the State will administer this program, subject to continuing EPA oversight and enforcement authority, in place of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program now administered by EPA in Alaska. EPA will either approve or disapprove the State of Alaska’s request after considering all comments received during the public comment period which ends August 18.
MAX RESOURCE CORP. JUNE 16 SAID IT HAS BEGUN DRILLING at the Gold Hill property in Alaska. The 2008 drill program will follow up on a five-hole drill program MAX conducted in 2007 that intersected significant molybdenum mineralization. Hole DH-07-03 intersected 1000 feet at 0.058 percent molybdenum and hole DH-07-01 intersected 250 feet of 0.080 percent molybdenum. Starting at the surface molybdenum mineralization continued beyond the depth of drilling in four holes. This first drill hole of the 2008 program will test the zone to the east of drill hole DH-07-05 and examine the continuation of the high grade mineralization encountered in drill hole DH-07-01 and under drill hole DH-07-03.
STATE OF ALASKA DIVISION OF GEOLOGICAL & GEOPHYSICAL Surveys (DGGS) June 16 released airborne electromagnetic and total-field aeromagnetic survey data and maps for about 715 square miles of the Yentna and McGrath mining districts, about 90 miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska. Airborne geophysical data for the eastern part of the survey were previously released in January. DGGS believes the data from this survey will provide valuable information to help decipher the distribution of intrusive rocks, alteration halos, faults, and other structures in this area. Major lode-mineral prospects in the survey area include Mt. Estelle, Whistler, and Terra. Other gold and base-metal anomalies, altered zones, favorable lithologies, and structural zones are known to exist throughout the survey area. The data will be available in both digital form and as printed map sheets and will be available by FTP transfer on request. DGGS will have electromagnetic anomalies and an interpretive project report will be available at a later date.
UCORE URANIUM INC. JUNE 19 SAID THE 2008 EXPLORATION program at the Bokan Mountain uranium and Rare Earth Element exploration project 60 kilometers southwest of Ketchikan, Alaska is now under way. Using two drill rigs the company plans a minimum of 6,000 meters of drilling in 2008. The program is aimed at verifying uranium and rare earth element values reported from 2007 and earlier drilling, testing Ucore’s geological model for the style of mineralization and expanding mineralization at the I&L zone. A total of 10 diamond drill holes have already been completed at the I&L zone, an area which returned high grade uranium values from Ucore’s 2007 drilling program. The holes are being logged with a downhole gamma ray spectrometer. Drill core samples from the completed holes are being split and packaged and are being shipped for analysis.
FREEGOLD VENTURES LTD. JUNE 13 SAID THE 2008 BULK sampling program has started at the Golden Summit project located outside Fairbanks, Alaska. The start of this first full processing season follows the recent purchase and installation of additional processing equipment to enhance the crushing and grinding capabilities of the company's gravity-based gold recovery plant. The decision to expand the plant was made upon the completion of comprehensive metallurgical testing over the winter which showed that significantly higher gold recoveries can be expected with smaller-sized material processed through the plant. Recoveries ranging from 80 percent to 95 percent have been achieved on 17 bulk sample composite samples that have been reduced to a particle size in the laboratory that is reflective of the new crushing and grinding capabilities of the plant. Samples with composite head grades ranging from 1.9 grams per ton gold to 44.6 g/t gold were tested and the high gravity recoveries were observed across all sample grades. The primary purposes of the bulk-sampling program at Golden Summit are to determine the continuity of gold mineralization found within numerous gold-bearing shear zones, and to generate cash flow from the on-site gravity concentration of the gold found in this material.
NIBLACK MINING CORP. JUNE 17 PROVIDED AN EXPLORATION update for the ongoing underground program at the gold-silver-copper-zinc Niblack project in Southeast Alaska. Underground drilling to date has encountered copper bearing massive sulfides within a broad zone of favourable stratigraphy at the Mammoth target. The main tunnel shaft has advanced 758 meters, or 2,500 feet, into Lookout Mountain and the company is nearing completion of the first of two drilling stations designed to drill-test the deepest reaches of the known zone of mineralization at the Lookout area. In addition, the drift is now approximately 15 meters, or 50 feet, from the Lookout stratigraphy hosting gold-and base-metal-rich mineralization. Niblack plans to complete approximately 10,000 meters, or 30,000 feet of underground drilling to test more that two kilometers of prospective mineralization.
MILLROCK RESOURCES INC. AND ALIX RESOURCES CORP. JUNE 16 said they have begun the 2008 exploration program at the Divide Project approximately 40 kilometers north of Nome, Alaska. The Divide joint venture partners will fund equal shares of the $1.5 million exploration budget. The program will include about 3,600 meters of reverse circulation drilling, trenching, channel sampling and mapping. The first drill target is the Stoneman prospect, where visible gold is observed at surface in the weathered and broken bedrock. At the Saddle Zone, one kilometer to the southwest, previous trench sampling returned values of 16.21 grams per ton gold over 16.76 meters. However, historic drilling immediately under the trench did not provide results of similar magnitude. To resolve the discrepancy the company will excavate a large trench and use explosives to clearly expose the mineralization for channel sampling. A series of relatively closely spaced reverse circulation holes will be drilled at the Stoneman and Saddle zones to determine if high grade chutes are present in the vein system, and if so, to delineate the resource. If the results warrant, a late season bulk sample program may be started. Several holes will be drilled to test a strong soil anomaly between the Stoneman and Saddle zones, and another parallel soil anomaly to the southeast.
DONLIN CREEK LLC JUNE 16 REPORTED MARY SATTLER NELSON has accepted a full-time position as Manager of Community Development & Sustainability for the company formed by NovaGold Resources Inc. and Barrick Gold Corp. that proposes to develop a world-class gold mine in the Yukon Kuskokwim (YK) region where they have had an active exploration camp for 12 years now. Nelson announced that she will not seek a sixth term earlier this year after serving ten years representing the 56 villages of the YK region in the Alaska State Legislature. Nelson said that after watching Donlin for more than 10 years she is impressed with the project’s record of keeping its environmental commitments and the positive effects the 90 percent local hire rate has had on the local communities. “I want to work with the company to ensure that these benefits are realized throughout the region so that they can be sustained not only through the construction, operation and closure of the mine — but also beyond," Nelson said.
