2010 Mining Explorers: Freegold Ventures Ltd.

 

Last updated 10/31/2010 at Noon



FVL: TSX-V

President and CEO: Kristina Walcott

Chief Financial Officer: Gordon Steblin

Vice President, Exploration: Michael Gross

Weighed down with about C$11 million in debt in mid-2009, it appeared Freegold Ventures Ltd. would become another casualty of the market collapse.

Stepping into the leadership role, former Freegold Vice President of Corporate Development Kristina Walcott leveraged the value of the company's four gold assets in Alaska and Idaho.

Over the course of a few short months, the new president and CEO slashed C$5.2 million from the C$6 million tab the company had run up in past-due, short-term debt, converted about C$1.6 million of its unsecured debt into some 14.5 million shares of Freegold, and raised enough money to sate the appetites of the service and supply vendors to whom the company owed nearly C$4 million.

Freegold's money-raising efforts included selling its Almaden gold project in Idaho to Western Standard Metals Ltd., leaving its three Alaska gold assets intact.

The Vinasale gold project - found on the northern end of the Kuskokwim Gold Belt about 16 miles, or 26 kilometers, south of McGrath - was Freegold's primary exploration target in 2010.

Drilling conducted by the junior this year focused primarily on the Central Zone, which contains an historical non-NI 43-101-compliant resource of 14.5 million metric tons grading 1.95 grams of gold per metric ton, or 925,000 ounces of the yellow metal.

Upon optioning the property from Doyon Ltd., an Alaska Native regional corporation, in 2007, Freegold flew an airborne geophysical survey over the entire 140,000-acre property.

The following year the junior carried out a ground-based induced polarization and magnetic survey over the northern part of the deposit.

The Golden Summit project, about 20 miles or 32 kilometers north of Fairbanks, was also investigated by Freegold in 2010.

The project is host to a number of gold occurrences that are similar in age and style to the multimillion-ounce intrusion found at Kinross Gold Corp.'s Fort Knox Mine about 5 miles, or 8 kilometers, to the south.

The junior has conducted 26,900 meters of drilling, 5,500 meters of trenching, 7,729 soil samples, as well as mapping and geophysics at Golden Summit since it acquired an interest in the 5,421-acre-property in 1991.

Exploration targets with significant potential include from west to east: Tolovana-Dolphin deposit, Newsboy Mine, Cleary Hill Mine, American Eagle Vein Swarm and Hi Yu Mine.

A small ground geophysical program carried out during the summer focused on extending gold mineralization intersected in historic drill holes at the Tolovana-Dolphin deposit in an effort to delineate an intrusive hosted bulk-mineable resource.

Freegold is looking at optioning off or bringing in a partner at its Rob high-grade gold project about 20 miles, or 32 kilometers, west of Sumitomo Metal Mining's Pogo gold mine.

(see Sumitomo Metal Mining.) The explorer first drilled the property in 2007; the best intersections of an eight-hole program targeting a vein known as the Grey Lead were a 4.1-meter interval averaging 20.1 g/t gold and another 4-meter intersect grading 29 g/t gold.

The first hole of a 12-hole program conducted in 2008 cut 2.4 meters, starting at a depth of 22.4 meters, with an average grade of 62 g/t gold.

In July 2010, Freegold Ventures shareholders voted nearly unanimously in favor of a six-to-one share consolidation.

Cash and short-term deposits: C$134,227 (at June 30, 2010) (C$283,980 raised subsequent to June 30, 2010)

Working capital: C$2.12 million deficit (at June 30, 2010)

Market capitalization: C$5.39 million (at Aug. 30, 2010)

1540 West 2nd Ave., Ste 507 • Vancouver, BC V6J 1H2

Tel: 604-662-7307 • Fax: 604-662-3791

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Our Family of Publications Includes:

Mining News
Metal Tech News

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024