Freegold Ventures announces the commencement of the 2019 drilling program at Shorty Creek. The 2019 program is fully funded under the agreement with a wholly owned subsidiary of South32 Limited (South32) whereby South32 has the option to earn a 70% interest in the Shorty Creek property.
The 2019 program consisting of induced polarization surveys and geochemical surveys commenced in May. A severe wildfire fire in the area hampered the start of the drilling program, which was originally anticipated to start mid-July. The 2019 drill program will consist of 2,000 metres and will be aimed at further expanding the mineralization at Hill 1835 and further testing of the Hill 1710 target area. Total expenditures for 2019 are anticipated to be US $2.3 million.
Located 120 km northwest of Fairbanks, the Shorty Creek project was identified as having significant porphyry potential by Freegold in late 2014. Shorty Creek hosts a cluster of magnetic anomalies commonly seen in porphyry districts. Drilling has been largely concentrated on the Hill 1835 area; however, it is only one of the potentially significant targets within the property area. Twelve widely spaced historic holes drilled to an average depth of 500 metres have expanded the mineralized zone to over a 750 x 400 metre area with each hole intersecting significant and consistent copper, gold, silver and tungsten mineralization over broad widths from base of oxide material (average depth~ 90 metres). The target remains open both laterally and to depth.
Two (2) km to the northwest of Hill 1835 is Hill 1710, which hosts a large copper and molybdenum geochemical anomaly coincident with a 6 km long broad magnetic anomaly. Initial drill testing in 2016 consisted of four holes testing 1.6 km of this magnetic feature. Drilling intersected porphyry style mineralization, with copper grades increasing to the northeast. The magnetic anomaly extends another 2.5 km to the northeast from the limits of the 2016 drilling.
Other exploration targets within this promising 100 square kilometre property include the Quarry target, where oxidized porphyritic rock with stockwork veining returned values of 500 ppm copper in rock samples. Quarry lies 3 km north northeast of Hill 1835 at the northern end of an 11 km long magnetic high. Sampling at Quarry has confirmed both the presence of copper mineralization and quartz feldspar porphyry outcrops.