North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Northern Star Resources Ltd. Aug. 13 reported that its Pogo Mine in Alaska now hosts 6.7 million ounces of gold in 21.25 million metric tons of resources averaging 9.8 grams per metric ton gold, a 13% increase over last year and the largest gold inventory in Pogo's history.

The Australia-based gold miner says the increased gold at Pogo is despite only 62% of the budgeted drilling being achieved in the company's fiscal year 2020, which ended on June 30.

"At Pogo, the exploration results being generated despite the impacts of COVID-19 are testimony to the world-class nature of this geological system and provide further evidence of what could be achieved in a normalized environment," said Northern Star Resources Executive Chairman Bill Beament.

COVID-19 also limited the amount of drilling dedicated to upgrading the record amount of Pogo gold resources to reserves. The Alaska operation, however, did replace the 200,700 oz of gold mined last year and improved the ore grade.

As of the end of June, Pogo hosted 5.87 million metric tons of reserves average 8 g/t (1.5 million oz) gold, compared to 6.1 million metric tons of reserves averaging 7.5 g/t (1.5 million oz) gold a year ago.

Considering the large resource base, Northern Star said there is a significant opportunity to substantially grow the reserves at Pogo as normal drilling activities resume.

Toward this end, the company has budgeted US$35 million to unlock growth opportunities at Pogo, with US$29 million committed to improving processing and support infrastructure to increase production capacity by 30%.

Processing capacity upgrade to 1.3 million metric tons per year is scheduled for completion in the middle of calendar year 2021.

As a result of the increased mill throughput and other improvements, Northern Star anticipates significant increases in Pogo gold production over the coming three years:

• 180,000 to 220,000 oz in fiscal year 2021.

• 250,000 to 300,000 oz in fiscal year 2022.

• 275,000 to 325,000 oz in fiscal year 2023.

In addition to production expansion spending, Northern Star has budgeted roughly US$15 million for exploration at Pogo, most of which has been allocated for Goodpaster, a large discovery about 1,500 meters northwest of the underground workings at Pogo.

Extending for 2,300 meters along strike, Goodpaster hosts a series of flat lying and steep vein structures that are very similar to the Leise and North Zone veins currently being mined at Pogo.

One hole drilled in 2017, before Northern Star acquired Pogo, cut four meters averaging 67.5 g/t gold.

Highlights from Northern Star drilling, include:

• 2.2 meters of 28.1 g/t gold in hole 18-052.

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Goodpaster is located near the current surface infrastructure and underground mining at Pogo.

• 0.6 meters of 100 g/t gold in hole 18-058.

• 0.3 meters of 170 g/t gold in hole 18-069.

• 1.3 meters of 27.5 g/t gold in hole 19-084.

Northern Star planned to further drill Goodpaster earlier this year but surface exploration on the property was put on hold due to COVID-19. Underground drilling this year, however, has encountered excellent gold intersections in numerous unmodelled structures around the current mine area, providing possible extensions to the known systems.

"At Pogo, the exploration results being generated despite the impacts of COVID-19 are testimony to the world-class nature of this geological system and provide further evidence of what could be achieved in a normalized environment," said Beament.

Author Bio

Shane Lasley, Publisher

Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.

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