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President's Message
Dear Shareholders,
With the closing of 2007, we would like to take this opportunity to present an overview of our accomplishments during the year, as well as to lay out our vision of how we intend to continue to advance our gold projects to create additional value for our shareholders in the coming year.
Our systematic approach to exploration continues to generate success through the discovery of many new gold occurrences and in the expansion of our known deposits. Last year was our most active year ever, as we expended over $7 million in exploration on our Idaho and Alaska gold projects which included over 34,000 metres of drilling. This work translated into a significantly higher value for our shareholders in 2007, with our market capitalization increasing from $19.5 million to $125 million. The rising gold price has certainly contributed to our success, and we believe that current market forces will allow gold to continue to test new all-time highs during the coming years.
One of the most difficult tasks we face each year is determining the optimal manner in which to spend our exploration dollars, given that our Golden Summit, Almaden, Rob and Vinasale projects are all prospective for adding to our gold resource base. We continued to maintain a portfolio approach of advancing all of our projects with active exploration. This portfolio approach resulted in the discovery of significant new gold and moly extensions at Almaden, the discovery of broad continuous zones of bulk tonnage and high grade gold mineralization at Golden Summit, and the discovery of a high-grade vein system at our Rob property, similar to that currently being mined at the nearby and newly opened Pogo gold mine. Gold mineralization on all of our properties remains open-ended, and our 2008 programs include significant drilling aimed at expanding and further quantifying these deposits. New preliminary economic assessments on our Almaden project and the resumption of our Golden Summit bulk sampling program are also expected to be key milestones for the coming year.
Freegold's approach to having a technically strong operating team in charge of the advancement of our projects is a core part of our business plan, and we continued to make significant additions to this team and to our board in 2007. Jeff Woods, a senior metallurgical engineer who has designed, built and operated numerous gold processing facilities for some of North America's largest producers, was hired early in the year as our new VP Project Development. Recent additions to the board have included David Knight and Robert Jackson, two highly experienced professionals who have assisted numerous companies in making the transition from mineral exploration to mineral production.
2007 was a year of significant discovery and expansion for your company, and with the implementation of our 2008 programs to follow-up on our exploration success, we hope to be able to continue to deliver steady and positive results. On behalf of the Board of Directors and all of our staff, I thank you for your support during the year, and hope you continue
to follow us on our journey to production.
Steve Manz
President and C.E.O.
March 2008
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