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Rob Project, Alaska
Acquired in 2002, Freegold holds a 100% lease interest in the Rob Property, located 110 miles southeast of Fairbanks and 20 miles east of the 5.6 million ounce Pogo goldmine. Gold mineralization at Rob exhibits many of the same geological and geochemical characteristics to those found at Pogo. Initial work by Freegold consisted of rock and soil auger sampling, which successfully confirmed the presence of numerous drill ready targets.
Rob is located within the Goodpaster Mining District the site of Alaska's newest gold mine Teck/Sumitomo's Pogo gold mine. The mine is expected to have an annual production of 350,000 to 450,000 oz/year from this 5.6 million ounce gold resource. and with the announced consolidation of a 513,000 acre land package through staking and joint venturing by Goldcorp founder Rob McEwen. This large land package (subsequently merged into Rubicon Minerals) surrounds the Pogo mine and the Rob property, and was acquired due to the shared belief that the gold mineralization at Pogo is not a unique occurrence in the district.
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Our first drilling on the property proved this to be the case, as we
successfully intersected thick intervals of high-grade gold
mineralization at Gray Lead prospect. A total of 8 holes (1,529 feet)
were drilled at Gray Lead from two separate drill pads 170 feet apart.
All of the holes successfully intersected significant gold
mineralization within a discrete vein exhibiting geological and
geochemical characteristics very similar to those seen at Pogo.
The true width of the Gray Lead vein varies, but on average is in excess
of 10 feet. The best intersections within the vein included a 13.5 foot
interval averaging 20.1 g/t and another 13 foot interval at 29.0 g/t. A
further 9 holes drilled into the O'Reely prospect, approximately 6,000
feet to the west of Gray Lead also encountered a vein of similar width
that only contained anomalous gold with values up to a level of 2.1 g/t
over 3 feet, and 0.94 g/t over 17 feet.
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Freegold again commenced exploration at Rob in May 2008 with mapping
and reconnaissance work in the
Grey Lead, Grizzly and Michigan
prospect areas. This work
confirmed the presence of
multiple quartz veins in each of
these target areas. In addition
grab sampling at the Hilltop
prospect returned a 18.7 g/tonne
assay. Hilltop prospect (600
feet southeast of the Grey Lead
saddle and on another similar
northeast oriented structure)
returned 18.7 g/tonne, with
elevated levels of bismuth and
tellurium similar to those seen
in the eight drill holes that
intersected the Grey Lead vein
in the 2007 drill program. In
addition IP/resistivity surveys
were also carried out on the
property during the 2008 season
and successfully located a
number of anomalous zones for
future follow-up.
2008 Drilling
In July this year, Freegold
again commenced drilling at Rob.
A total of 12 holes were drilled
from 6 different pad locations.
These holes were designed to
further test the strike and
depth extension of the
high-grade, near surface gold
mineralization intersected in
last year's program.
In addition to further tracing the Grey Lead vein along surface,
prospecting and sampling in the Grey Lead area has also
identified two parallel gold-bearing veins to the east,
suggesting that the Grey Lead vein may be one of a series of
veins, comparable to the multiple vein system which is currently
being mined at the nearby Pogo Mine.
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Hole 18 which was the first core hole of the 2008 season
intersected a sulphide bearing vein within a sericite altered
granodiorite, and had an approximate true width of 7.9 feet
grading 1.81 oz/ton (2.4 m grading 62 g/t), including a higher
grade 1.7 foot section grading 5.4 oz/ton (0.5 m grading 184.0
g/t). Assays received to date from the select vein intervals
sent for rush analysis are shown below:
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| From (foot) |
To (foot) |
Interval (feet) |
Gold Grade (g/tonne) |
Gold Grade (oz/ton) |
| 73.5 |
75.3 |
1.8 |
26.8 |
0.78 |
| 75.3 |
77.0 |
1.7 |
184.0 |
5.37 |
| 77.0 |
79.5 |
2.5 |
24.7 |
0.72 |
| 79.5 |
80.7 |
1.2 |
42.0 |
1.23 |
| 80.7 |
81.4 |
0.7 |
22.8 |
0.67 |
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7.9 |
61.92 |
1.81 |
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Collared from the same pad as hole 18, holes 19 and 20 encountered the main Grey Lead vein along with numerous other veins within the hanging wall that may either represent stacked veins, or possible eastern dipping off-shoots of the main westerly dipping vein.
The vein in hole 19 look identical to the vein material which contained high-grade gold mineralization from the 2007 drilling, which intersected the main Grey Lead vein from pads located a further 100 and 250 feet to the north. Quartz stockwork, which has not yet been seen in any of the previous holes, was also found in the footwall below the vein. Select intervals from two of the veins were submitted on a rush assay basis. The thicker Grey Lead vein included an interval of 4.5 m grading 18 g/t, while a smaller vein approximately 9 m above the Grey Lead vein included a 0.4 m section grading 86.4 g/t. Higher grade intersections from this material included:
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| From (foot) |
To (foot) |
Interval (feet) |
Gold Grade (g/tonne) |
Gold Grade (oz/ton) |
| 57.9 |
59.2 |
1.3 |
86.4 |
2.52 |
| 87.8 |
88.8 |
1.0 |
10.3 |
0.30 |
| 88.8 |
91.8 |
3.0 |
26.0 |
0.76 |
| 91.8 |
95.2 |
3.4 |
53.7 |
1.57 |
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Hole 20 was a vertical hole that was designed to intercept the vine 15 to 25m down from the vein in hole 19. Similar in appearance to hole 19, the hole contained stockwork veining. Selected rush interval from hole 20 include the following results.
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| From (foot) |
To (foot) |
Interval (feet) |
Gold Grade (g/tonne) |
Gold Grade (oz/ton) |
| 48.6 |
51.8 |
3.2 |
4.7 |
0.14 |
| 51.8 |
56.7 |
4.9 |
1.9 |
0.05 |
| 79.1 |
81.7 |
2.6 |
18.8 |
0.55 |
| 81.7 |
82.7 |
1.0 |
1.3 |
0.04 |
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In addition to further tracing the Grey Lead vein along surface, prospecting and sampling in the Grey Lead area has also identified two parallel gold-bearing veins to the east, suggesting that the Grey Lead vein may be one of a series of veins, comparable to the multiple vein system which is currently being mined at the nearby Pogo Mine.
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