Freegold Commences 40,000 foot Phase 2 Expansion Drill Program at Golden Summit
February 27 2008 - 9:15AM
PR Newswire (US)
VANCOUVER, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Freegold Ventures
Limited (TSX: ITF, OTCBB: FGOVF, Frankfurt: FR4) is pleased to
announce the first of a series of drilling programs that will be
undertaken on its projects this year. Each program is designed to
further delineate and extend the new, open-ended mineralized zones
intersected in the 2007 programs, and to continue to expand and
further upgrade the Company's gold resources. The first program to
be undertaken is a 40,000 foot Phase 2 continuation of the
systematic RAB drill program that was conducted from December 2006
through November 2007 on the Golden Summit project outside
Fairbanks, Alaska. This program consisted of 674 (40,093 feet)
shallow, closed spaced vertical holes that were drilled in
north-south oriented lines of holes at various locations along a
mile wide east-west oriented area of gold mineralization in the
vicinity of the historic Cleary Hill Mine. This area was seen to
contain broad and continuous gold-bearing shear zones over the
entire mile length and over a maximum tested width of 1,500 feet.
The mineralization identified in this first phase of drilling
remains open in all directions. This mineralized area is comprised
of multiple 100 to 300 foot wide parallel shear zones that can be
traced from drill fence to fence. The shears themselves contain
multiple high grade narrow veins (which was the focus of historical
underground mining in the camp) surrounded by lower grade
mineralization, that in its entirety, presents attractive bulk
mineable, open pit mineralized targets. As seen in Figure 1
(http://www.freegoldventures.com/i/maps/Map_022708ITF.jpg) the
initial fences were drilled in the eastern half of the area,
starting in the vicinity of the old Beistline shaft, where
trenching, stripping and the first bulk sampling initially revealed
the potential bulk mineable nature of the gold mineralization. As
the first fences ended with good gold mineralization in the holes
at the northern and southern ends, subsequent fences were drilled
over progressively longer lengths as they moved westward. These
initial fences were drilled as 500 foot step-outs until Fence 5
(covering 1,725 of width) which contained multiple 100 to 275 foot
wide zones, each averaging more than 1 g/t over the maximum 78 foot
depth capability of the RAB drill. Fence 6 was a subsequent 2,300
foot step out to the west testing a particular shear target with
shorter fence lengths. This particular shear was then traced back
to the east in Fences 7, 8, 16-19 where it is now appears to be
trending into the heart of the main vein swarm south of the Cleary
Hill mine. The Phase 2 drilling, which will continue to use the
same percussion blast-hole drill equipped with an OEM dust and
drill cutting collector, is designed to test and delinate multiple
expansion targets. As Phase 1 drilling encountered high-grade
intercepts over significant widths at or near surface in many of
the fences (e.g. 9' @ 28.5 g/t (Fence 15), 3' @ 33.9 g/t (Fence 9),
6' @ 23.4 g/t (Fence 3), 9' @ 25.3 g/t (Fence 5), and 3' @ 34.8 g/t
and 15' @ 19.6 g/t in the Beistline area), the first fences in
Phase 2 are designed to test the continuity of some of the wider,
higher grade areas of gold mineralization along strike. Drilling
has now commenced with short fences of holes (Fence 24) stepping
out from 75 to 150 feet on either side of multiple higher-grade
mineralized intercepts encountered in Fence 4 (e.g. 6' @ 20.5 g/t ,
including 3' @ 36.2 g/t (hole 191), 6' @ 15.0 g/t, including 3' @
22.2 g/t (hole 194), and 3' @ 19.3 g/t (hole 196)). Logging of
drill cuttings recovered from holes already completed is
identifying visible gold in some of the drill holes, indicating
that these higher grade shears and veins zones may have continuity
along strike. Subsequent fences will be drilled in the Tolovana
mine area on the western end of the zone. Since the original fences
in this area only tested the mineralized zone over widths of
approximately 100 feet, two of the Fences (6 and 17) will each get
extensions to the north and south (Fences 6 N and 17 N extensions
plus Fences 22 and 23 to the south) totaling an extra 1,000 feet to
determine if the same width of mineralization seen in Fence 5
continues to the west. Fence 20 will then be drilled over a length
of 1,750 feet to cover the last large gap between Fences 5 and 19.
These three fences were bulldozed to bedrock last fall before
freeze-up in order to facilitate the commencement of winter
drilling. Numerous areas of quartz veining and alteration were seen
in this stripping, and significant grab samples taken at surface
along the area to be drilled include 5.2 and 80.5 g/t along Fence
20, and 7.5, 8.3, 12.3 and 23.7 g/t along Fence 22. Following
completion of extensional and in-fill drilling on the western side
of the zone, RAB drilling will move back to the eastern Beistline
area. Fence 25 will test for additional parallel vein swarms over a
distance of 500 feet to the south of where the previous RAB
drilling and bulk sampling ended in gold mineralization. This will
be followed by Fence 26, an 800 foot eastward step out that will be
the first systematic exploration east of the Beistline shaft area
to determine if the vein swarm continues in this direction. If this
step out is successful, plans for additional step outs to the east
will be developed. In addition to this ongoing RAB drilling (which
is continuing to be viewed as a cost effective exploration tool to
determine the areal extent of mineralization in this area), the
Company will also be conducting a deeper core drilling program that
will provide the first systematic testing of this gold
mineralization to depth, and provide the Company with the first
opportunity to begin determining the resource potential in this
Cleary Hill mine area. Detailed information on this drill program,
an update on initial Golden Summit bulk sampling results, and
information on drill programs currently planned on our other
Alaskan projects will be reported shortly. True widths of the veins
reported in this release are variable, as the orientation of the
various mineralized structures encountered throughout the drilling
is variable. Drilling is currently being conducted with an
Ingersol-Rand conventional percussion drill. Cuttings are returned
up the drill hole with the use of an OEM vacuum drill cuttings
collector, and are dropped from a cyclone directly into a sample
bag. Samples are collected every three feet, with the drill bit
being pulled off the bottom and the hole cleaned at the completion
of each sample interval. Freegold maintains a geologist and sampler
at the drill rig for all drilling to take and log all samples to
insure that quality assurance and control procedures are in
accordance with 43-101 requirements. One duplicate assay is
conducted in every drill hole and either a blank or a standard is
inserted in the sample stream every 10 samples. Alaska Assay
Laboratories in Fairbanks, Alaska is being used to analyze the
drill cuttings for gold via fire assay analysis plus multi element
ICP-AES and ICP-MS analysis using 4 acid digestion. About Freegold
Ventures Limited Freegold Ventures Limited is a North American
exploration and development company with a management team
experienced in mine development and production that is actively
exploring advanced-stage gold projects in Idaho and Alaska.
Freegold holds a 100% lease interest in the Almaden gold project in
Idaho. This large tonnage epithermal gold deposit was the subject
of a feasibility study in 1997 calling for the development of a
95,000 oz/year open pit, heap leach mine. Freegold has recently
finalized a 54,700-foot drilling program aimed at further expanding
the size of the resource and is in the process of generating a new
43-101 resource prior to undertaking new economic evaluations in
2008. Drilling at depth and to the north and south of the known
mineralization is continuing to identify new extensions to the
deposit, and newly identified open ended areas of molybdenum
mineralization continue to be encountered along with the gold in
the northern portions of the deposit. Freegold's 40,100-foot drill
program has resulted in the discovery of new high-grade veins and
bulk tonnage shear zones on its Golden Summit project outside
Fairbanks, Alaska. Over 7 million ounces of gold has historically
been recovered from Golden Summit which is situated less than 5
miles to the north of the +7 million ounce Fort Knox Mine. In order
to further evaluate the mineralized zones delineated to date,
on-site seasonal bulk sample processing using a gravity-based
concentration plant has commenced. Exploration is ongoing as the
Company continues to define additional areas of larger, lower grade
mineralization through on-going drilling and stripping. Exploration
has also commenced on the Vinasale property in Alaska, where
geophysical and surface sampling programs have recently been
completed on this 140,000 acre property which contains the Vinasale
gold deposit, and on the Rob property in Alaska, where recent
drilling has intersected high-grade gold (29.0 g/t over 13 feet and
20.1 g/t over 13.5 feet) in near surface quartz veins similar in
appearance and grade to those being mined at the nearby 5.6 million
ounce Pogo mine. The Qualified person for this release is Michael
P. Gross, M.S., P.Geo, VP Exploration, Freegold Ventures Limited.
On behalf of the Board of Directors "Steve Manz" Steve Manz
President and C.E.O. The TSX has neither approved nor disapproved
the contents of this news release. CUSIP: 45953B107 DISCLAIMER This
news release contains certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within
the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange
Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of
historical fact, included herein are forward-looking statements
that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no
assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and
actual results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations
are disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time
with the Toronto Stock Exchange, British Columbia Securities
Commission and the United States Securities & Exchange
Commission. CONTACT: Kristina Walcott, VP Corporate Development,
(604) 662-7307, DATASOURCE: Freegold Ventures Limited CONTACT:
Kristina Walcott, VP Corporate Development, (604) 662-7307,
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