|
Gil’s golden future Advanced exploration project east of Fort Knox gold mine shows high-grade veins in spring drilling program, work will continue through summer Patricia Jones Petroleum News Contributing Writer
Assay results from exploration drilling conducted this spring on the Gil gold project, located about six miles east of the Fort Knox gold mine in Interior Alaska, surprised operators with some high-grade intercepts.
Kinross Gold Corp., owner of Fort Knox, and its partner on the Gil project, Vancouver, B.C.-based Teryl Resources, released assay results May 28 from nine exploration holes drilled about a month ago.
It’s the first part of an $830,000 exploration program planned at Gil for 2003. A total of 60 holes will be completed, consisting of approximately 17,000 feet of drilling.
Should that first phase produce favorable results, a second phase of exploration — involving an additional 74 holes totaling 22,000 feet, budgeted for $590,000 — is planned for the later part of the year.
Notable about initial results from the first phase of exploration is a 35-foot interval, taken from the North Gil zone, which assayed 0.36 ounces of gold per ton of rock. By comparison, average grade of ore mined and milled at Fort Knox is a little less than 0.03 ounces per ton of rock.
“This is one of the richest intercepts found over this length … it’s exciting to find new zones of high grade (mineralization),” said John Robertson, president of Teryl, which holds a 20 percent share of the Gil property. “The drilling is very positive — coming up with this high grade is better than we anticipated and it was a nice, pleasant surprise.”
Kinross, which holds an 80 percent share of Gil, operates the exploration program. Ted Wilton, the company’s chief geologist at Fort Knox , said at press time that he had not yet obtained permission to comment on the drilling results. Two new targets identified Another high-grade intercept hit by drillers this spring was a 15-foot section averaging nearly a half-ounce of gold per ton of rock, taken from the Sourdough Ridge Zone, a relatively new prospecting target at Gil, Robertson told Petroleum News on June 4.
“We had drilling all over the property and encountered some mineralization there about three years ago, but the target was located just last year,” Robertson said. “Rocks on the surface were similar to the Main Gil, but it’s got high grade zones in quartz.”
A second hole in the Sourdough Ridge Zone showed mineralization more typical of past results at Gil — an intercept of 105 feet with average grade of 0.033 ounces per ton.
Another new exploration target, dubbed the Skarn Grid, also produced a small, high-grade interval, Robertson said.
“Drilling these holes is based on geophysical targets — they’re looking for the source of the gold,” he said.
Focus on known resource Robertson said future drilling will focus on the North Gil and the Main Gil zones. “They will go where they know they have a substantial strike length,” Robertson said.
Current reports show the Main Gil zone is believed to be 3,000 feet in strike length and 70 feet thick, Robertson said. Mineralization at North Gil covers a zone 1,000 feet long and 500 feet wide, and it appears to be open in all directions except to the north, Robertson said.
“Kinross wants to establish the presence of additional mineralization and to also take the drill-indicated resources to the proven category,” he said. “We’re hoping this mine will be the next to go into production.”
In addition to the drilling, a 375-foot trench was excavated, and a bulk sample of mineralized material was shipped to Fort Knox for testing.
“It’s compatible, so there’s no contamination problems,” Robertson said. “They would not be drilling on the property if they were not able to mine it.”
Mineralization at Gil has been located close to the surface, he said. Most drill holes are 300 feet or less in depth, he said, and some mineralization has been encountered “right up to the surface,” he said. “The less waste rock you have, the cheaper it is to mine.” More gold needed Earlier this year, Fort Knox general manager Rick Dye said 2003 exploration work at Gil was designed to advance the property to a feasibility and permitting stage in 2004.
The company announced plans to spend $3.2 million on exploration this year, which includes in-pit work, as well as prospecting at the nearby True North mine, the shuttered Ryan Lode mine about 30 miles away near Ester and grassroots work on federal-controlled land just southwest of the Fort Knox deposit.
It’s all part of an effort to keep the mill operating at its annual rate of 17.7 million tons of ore, producing a little less than 410,000 ounces of gold a year.
Based on existing geological work, the Fort Knox gold deposit will be mined out in 2010, Dye said, although it could be extended by successful exploration.
| 