Overview
Stage | Preliminary Economic Assessment |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
|
Processing |
- Bacterial oxidation (BIOX)
- Carbon re-activation kiln
- Flotation
- Heap leach
- Concentrate leach
- Carbon in leach (CIL)
- Carbon in column (CIC)
- Carbon adsorption-desorption-recovery (ADR)
- Elution
- Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
- Cyanide (reagent)
- Rotary kiln & Electric furnace
|
Mine Life | 24 years (as of Jan 1, 2016) |
New Golden Summit Resource update planned for 2022. |
Latest News | Freegold Drills 10.7 G/T Gold Over 10.1 Metres In The Cleary Vein Zone And 1.05 G/T Gold Over 249.9 Metres... March 21, 2022 |
Source:
p. 13
The Golden Summit property is controlled by Freegold Ventures Ltd. through long-term lease agreements or outright claim ownership.
Fairbanks Exploration Inc. reserved a 7% working interest which is held in trust for FEI by the Company. Freegold Ventures Ltd. will fund 100% of the costs until commercial production is achieved at which point FEI will be required to contribute 7% of any approved budget.
Deposit Type
- Breccia pipe / Stockwork
- Vein / narrow vein
Summary:
There are three styles of gold occurrences identified on the Property, including: 1) intrusive- hosted sulfide disseminations and sulfide-quartz stockwork veinlets (such as the Dolphin gold deposit); 2) auriferous sulfide-quartz veins; and 3) shear-hosted gold-bearing veinlets. All three types are considered to be part of a large-scale intrusive-related gold system on the Property.
Instrusive-Hosted Sulfide-Quartz Veinlets
Intrusive-hosted, auriferous sulfide disseminations and auriferous sulfide-quartz veinlets (0.1-5 mm) within the Dolphin stock are spatially associated with the highest gold grades within the Dolphin gold deposit. Gold also occurs with disseminated euhedral arsenopyrite (1 to 5 mm) which appear to be an earlier, higher temperature mineralization event (McCoy and Olson, 1997). Gold mineralization within the deposit also occurs as mineralized fault gouge enriched with sulfides, sulfide-rich veins, and locally as narrow sulfide-quartz veins <6 inches thick; however, these comprise a relatively small portion of the total gold resource.
Gold within the Dolphin gold deposit occurs largely as inclusions in sulfides, and locally as visible grains, within the sulfide-quartz veinlets. Pyrite and arsenopyrite is the most common sulfide mineral, although stibnite, lead- antimony sulfosalt minerals, tetrahedrite, scheelite, galena and sphalerite occur locally. McCoy and Olson (1997) identified two distinct varieties of arsenopyrite in the Dolphin gold deposit based on arsenopyrite geothermometry and age relations. McCoy also noted that older “hotter” arsenopyrites were finer-grained compared to younger “cooler” arsenopyrites, which were generally coarse and bladey. Furthermore, the high-temperature arsenopyrite contains particulate inclusions of gold, whereas the low-temperature arsenopyrite contains maldonite (a gold-bismuth mineral). Although stibnite and antimony sulfosalts are not uncommon in the deposit, geochemical studies suggest that high antimony values are generally associated with very low gold values. Evidence suggests that the fluids evolved towards increasing base metals and antimony with time. For example, chalcopyrite embayments in pyrite were noted in thin section, and massive sulfide veins (jamesonite, galena, stibnite and/or sphalerite) cutting arsenopyrite-quartz veins are noted in several drill logs. In addition to sulfides, some portions of the Dolphin gold deposit contain abundant scheelite.
Auriferous Quartz Veins
High grade auriferous quartz veins (2 cm to 3 m), hosted in metamorphic rocks, occur at numerous locations, and were the source of all previous gold production from the Property. A discussion of each occurrence is beyond the scope of this report; the general mineralogy, morphology and structural setting is summarized below. Detailed information for individual vein prospects on the Property can be obtained from previous reports (Freeman, 1992).
The auriferous quartz veins typically crosscut the host rock primary foliation at very high angles. A large number of these veins dip south, although some veins dip north. Vein thickness is quite variable, and can range from a few inches to several feet over short distances along both strike and dip. Pinch-and-swell features, bifurcations and splays are characteristic.
Auriferous quartz veins on the Property consist of hydrothermal quartz with minor to trace amounts of sulfides. The veins are opaque to milky white quartz and locally gray to mottled gray and white. Bands or laminations parallel to the vein walls are not uncommon, and vein centers often contain vuggy or comby quartz crystals. Silicified vein breccia is also common, and may comprise the entire vein or be restricted to bands within the banding sequence (Adams and Giroux, 2012). This suggests there were most likely multiple, possibly alternating episodes of silicification and deformation. Auriferous quartz veins seldom contain more than 5% total sulfides and average 1- 3%. The most common sulfide is arsenopyrite, although other sulfides are locally present, including pyrite, stibnite, jamesonite, tetrahedrite, galena and sphalerite. Scheelite is present in a few specific veins (notably abundant in the Cleary Hill and Wyoming vein). Visible gold typically occurs as coarse flakes, filigree, or wires suspended in quartz or mingled with sparse, scattered sulfides. Locally the auriferous quartz veins may be accompanied by parallel stringers and pods of later massive stibnite. This massive stibnite occurs locally as <10 inch (<0.25 m) thick seams or pods parallel or adjacent to auriferous quartz veins, and also as veins up to 4 feet (1.3 m) thick along steep cross-faults which offset the auriferous quartz veins. This stibnit mineralization is thought to be formed as the last metal-bearing event at lower temperatures.
Shear-Hosted Veinlet Zones
Shear-hosted auriferous veinlet zones on the Golden Summit Property are found within some of the same shear zones which host major auriferous quartz veins and, as mentioned above, are likely parts of the same mineralization event. The key characteristic of these zones is that they may contain sufficient polyphase veinlet density and gold grade to justify bulk-mining methods. Several of these zones have been explored since about 1969, including the Too Much Gold prospect, the Circle Trail and Saddle prospects, and the Curry Zone.
The shear-hosted veinlets consist largely of quartz with variable amounts of sulfides, although locally the veinlets may consist largely of sulfides with lessor amounts of quartz. Sulfide- quartz veins within the shear-hosted zones generally are less than a few centimeters in thickness. Locally these veins form vein sets with spacing of a few feet, resembling a sheeted vein system (vein swarm). The veins are discontinuous along strike and dip, and often grade into broken veins, vein breccia, or zones of sugary, granulated crush quartz material. Higher quartz vein and veinlet density is generally indicative of higher gold values.
The shear-hosted veinlet zones are characterized by pervasive sericite and clay alteration, as well as localized silicification and carbonate alteration. In addition, the zones are typically highly oxidized near the surface, and contain locally intense iron, arsenic or antimony oxides. The majority of the veinlets within the zones are sub-parallel to the strike and dip of the zone.
Summary:
Due to the pit containing both sulfide and oxide material, there will be two methods of processing.
Oxide material will be mined and processed exclusively for the first eight years of the mine production. A small amount of sulfide material will be mined before year eight; this sulfide material (approximately 800,000 tonnes) will be stockpiled until the end of mine life. In year nine, the sulfide material comes online for production. Mining of the oxide material will continue through year 14 of the 24-year mine life. Mining of sulfide material will continue from year nine through the end of the 24 -year mine life.
During production, both oxide and sulfide material will be transported from the pit to the primary crusher located near the pit exit. After primary crushing, oxide and sulfide material will be transported by conveyor to its respective process area. The oxide will be leach processed in an area to the southeast of the pit, while the sulfide will be processed northwest of the pit.
Waste will be hauled by truck to the Mine Rock Storage Facility (MRSF). The MRSF has been designed to permanently contain the overburden and waste material associated with the pit. The current MRSF design, located to the northeast of the pits, is built around the hill. The MRSF was designed with a buffer around the nearby creeks. The total MRSF design will contain 100% of the expected waste material planned to be generated - approximately 239 million tonnes of swelled material.
The mine has been planned using diesel blasthole drills, large haul trucks and rope shovels. Primary mine production is achieved using 64 Mt payload rope shovels along with 227 Mt payload haul trucks. The drills, shovels and haul trucks selected for the Project are scheduled to operate around the clock and require four crews on 12-hour shifts for complete shift coverage.
Pit slope configurations used in designing the pit were based on the geologic information provided in the drill logs and physical inspection of the material during the site visit. Since no geotechnical pit slope analysis study has been conducted, a generic pit slope design consisting of 45° overall inter-ramp slope angles with 63° bench face angles were designed, using 10 m benches.
Pit designs were based on 10 m single benches for the rock units. This corresponds with the resource model block heights (10 m).
Haul-roads, in general, are designed to be inside of the pit where only one safety berm is required. Haul roads inside and outside of the pit have been designed at an average of 27 meters. This provides approximately 3.5 times the width of the planned trucks.
Ramps were designed to have a maximum centerline gradient of 10%. Switchbacks are designed with flat turnarounds. Once the switchback is complete, the ramp continues at 10%.
The ultimate pit design uses switchbacks to maintain the road and ramp for the entrance of the pit. This allows for better traffic flow between pit phases. The haul roads provide access to the Primary Crusher. The haul roads also provide access to the MRSF for placement of overburden and waste rock material.
The crest of the ultimate pit is at an elevation of about 460 meters above mean sea level (amsl), with a pit bottom of 80 meters amsl.
Flow Sheet:
Crusher / Mill Type | Model | Size | Power | Quantity |
Gyratory crusher
|
|
|
|
1
|
Cone crusher
|
|
7'
|
800 HP
|
2
|
Pebble crusher
|
|
5'
|
500 HP
|
1
|
SAG mill
|
|
26' x 12'
|
4500 HP
|
1
|
Ball mill
|
|
16' x 28'
|
4500 HP
|
1
|
Summary:
Phase 1
Crushed oxide material would be received from the gyratory crusher located at the mine and conveyed to secondary and tertiary crushing circuit to reduce the size to a nominal minus one-inch product.
Phase 2
Phase 2 of the project would use the existing primary crushing circuit from Phase 1 to provide primary crushed sulfide mineralized material to a crushed coarse material stockpile at the process plant site.
Crushed sulfide material would be reclaimed by apron feeders and conveyed to the primary grinding circuit. The primary grinding circuit would use a SAG mill in closed circuit with a pebble crusher to grind the material to an acceptable size for the secondary grinding circuit. The secondary grinding circuit would use a ball bill operating in closed circuit with hydrocyclones to produce material suitable for rougher flotation assumed at P80 100-200 microns for this study (to be confirmed by additional test work).
Processing
- Bacterial oxidation (BIOX)
- Carbon re-activation kiln
- Flotation
- Heap leach
- Concentrate leach
- Carbon in leach (CIL)
- Carbon in column (CIC)
- Carbon adsorption-desorption-recovery (ADR)
- Elution
- Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
- Cyanide (reagent)
- Rotary kiln & Electric furnace
Flow Sheet:
Summary:
Gold recovery from the Project deposit would be accomplished in two separate processing operations for oxide and sulfide mineralized materials. Gold from oxide material in Phase 1 production would be recovered by crushing run- of-mine (RoM) material prior to loading onto a heap leach pad. The crushed oxide material would then be leached with a sodium cyanide solution to recover the soluble gold. Gold from the pregnant leachate solution would then be recovered onto activated carbon and further refined in an elution/electrowinning (EW) circuit. The product from the EW cells would be further refined into gold doré. For the purpose of this report, an oxide gold recovery of 80% was used in all calculations based on the available metallurgical testwork.
Gold from the sulfide materials would be recovered by crushing and grinding the material prior to biooxidation of the sulfide minerals. The oxidized slurry would be sent to a carbon- in-leach (CIL) circuit for cyanide leaching and ........

Projected Production:
Commodity | Product | Units | Avg. Annual | LOM |
Gold
|
Payable metal
|
koz
| | 2,308 |
Gold
|
Metal in doré
|
koz
| 96 | 2,358 |
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | |
Stripping / waste ratio
| 2.45 * |
Waste tonnes, LOM
| 239,170 kt * |
Ore tonnes mined, LOM
| 96,655 kt * |
Total tonnes mined, LOM
| 335,826 kt * |
Tonnes processed, LOM
| 97,483 kt * |
Annual processing rate
| 3,650 kt * |
Annual ore mining rate
| 3,650 kt * |
* According to 2016 study.
Reserves at May 11, 2016:
Cut-off grade at 0.30 g/t Au.
Category | OreType | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Indicated
|
Sulphide
|
45,280,000 t
|
Gold
|
0.7 g/t
|
1,018,000 oz
|
Indicated
|
Oxide
|
16,180,000 t
|
Gold
|
0.66 g/t
|
345,000 oz
|
Indicated
|
Total
|
61,460,000 t
|
Gold
|
0.69 g/t
|
1,363,000 oz
|
Inferred
|
Sulphide
|
61,880,000 t
|
Gold
|
0.7 g/t
|
1,401,000 oz
|
Inferred
|
Oxide
|
9,620,000 t
|
Gold
|
0.59 g/t
|
183,000 oz
|
Inferred
|
Total
|
71,500,000 t
|
Gold
|
0.69 g/t
|
1,584,000 oz
|
Mine Management:
Job Title | Name | Profile | Ref. Date |
.......................
|
.......................
|
|
Dec 8, 2021
|
- Subscription is required.
Staff:
Total Workforce | Year |
|
2018
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
- Subscription is required.
News:
News | Date |
Freegold Drills 10.7 G/T Gold Over 10.1 Metres In The Cleary Vein Zone And 1.05 G/T Gold Over 249.9 Metres...
|
March 21, 2022
|
Freegold Intersects 231.3 Metres Grading 1.22 g/t Au at Golden Summit Including 2.1 Metres Grading 44 g/t Au
|
November 3, 2021
|
Freegold Intersects 1.44 g/t Au over 198.1 metres at the Dolphin Zone including 2.54 g/t Au over 33.5 metres and 98.3 g/t Au over 1.2 metres at the Cleary Zone
|
October 21, 2021
|
Freegold Intersects 1.17 g/t Au Over 495.8 Metres including 111.2 metres grading 2.94 g/t Au in GS2122 and 609 g/t Au over 1.1 metres in GS2121 at Golden Summit
|
August 18, 2021
|
Freegold Intersects 3.99 g/t Au Over 41.1 Metres at Golden Summit within 296 Metres grading 1.4 g/t Au
|
June 3, 2021
|
Freegold Intersects 588 g/t Au Over 1.7 Metres at Golden Summit
|
April 12, 2021
|
Freegold Intercepts 2.67 g/t Over 93.6 Metres Including 3 Metres of 55.6 g/t Au at Golden Summit
|
February 10, 2021
|
Freegold Intercepts 348 Metres Grading 1.0 g/t Au at Golden Summit
|
January 12, 2021
|
Freegold Intercepts 3.78 g/t Au Over 119 Metres Including 131.5 g/t Over 3 Metres Within 573 Metres of 1.21 g/t Au at Golden Summit
|
November 10, 2020
|
Freegold Intersects 136 Metres Grading 1.02 g/t Gold at Golden Summit
|
September 11, 2020
|
Freegold Intersects 188 Metres Grading 3.69 g/t Gold at Golden Summit Including 2 Metres of 169.5 g/t Gold
|
May 6, 2020
|
Freegold Ventures: Planning Underway for Oxide Expansion Program at Golden Summit Project
|
June 7, 2018
|
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