VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Apr 02, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Northern Freegold Resources Ltd. (“Northern Freegold” or the “Company”). Northern Freegold is pleased to outline the planned exploration and drilling program for its 100% owned Freegold Mountain gold/copper project, beginning in May 2012. The road accessible property is located approximately 200 kilometres northwest of Whitehorse in the Yukon in the Tintina Gold Belt.
The planned exploration and drilling program will consist of up to, 20,000 meters of diamond drilling and 5,000 meters of reverse circulation drilling, and will focus on the continued expansion of the 43-101 mineral resources on the Revenue, Nucleus and Tinta Deposits and exploration drilling on the Stoddart Zone. The results are expected to lead to growth in the existing National Instrument 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimates. The program will also include additional geochemical and geological surveys. Planned program details and objectives are laid out below.
Commencing May 2012 – Program Details and Objectives:
-- Three diamond drills beginning in May focusing on extending known
deposits and new discoveries
-- Reverse Circulation drill expected to drill up to 5,000 meters and test
numerous high priority targets including the approximately 3km
connection between Nucleus and Revenue Deposits, geophysical targets
north and south of Nucleus-Revenue trend, geochemical targets north and
south of Nucleus-Revenue trend and known surface showings. Some of these
targets were identified following the Titan 24 Deep IP geophysical
surveys shot in 2010 and 2011. These surveys identified an IP
chargeability anomaly 8km in diameter from Nucleus in the West to the
Stoddart Zone in the East
-- Revenue - Expansion and definition diamond drilling on the Revenue
Deposit which remains open in all directions and at depth. Northern
Freegold is planning 10,000 meters of drilling with the goal of
expanding the resource via:
-- Eastern Strike extension. 600M step-outs holes from the 2011 program
were still mineralized. The most easterly intersections within the
Revenue resource included RVD11-028 with 223.3 meters averaging 0.36
g/t Au, 3.98 g/t Ag, 0.18% Cu and 0.08% Mo (1.58 g/t AuEq(1))
(previously reported in a news release dated November 15, 2011). We
plan to test the extension further
-- Northeast extension. No previous drilling beyond the highest grade
holes from 2011, including RVD11-019 with 304.8 meters averaging
0.47 g/t Au, 3.68 g/t Ag, 0.12% Cu and 0.02% Mo (0.95 g/t
AuEq(2))(previously reported in a news release dated September 22,
2011)
-- Western Extension. In 2011 we only drilled one hole on the western
half of the Target Deposit. This hole RVD11-033 was a 700M step-out
from our 43-101 resource and was mineralized
-- Nucleus - Expansion and definition diamond drilling on the Nucleus
Deposit of up to 5000 meters with one diamond drill with the goal of
expanding the resource which remains open at depth and in all directions
-- Expansion and definition diamond drilling on the high grade Tinta
Deposit which is a vein style body open at depth and in all directions
containing Inferred resources of 1,260,000 tonnes of 1.76 g/t Au, 47.69
g/t Ag, 0.28% Cu, 0.88% Pb, and 1.45% Zn using a 0.40 g/t Au cut-off
(previously reported in a news release dated July 27, 2009)
-- Exploration on the Stoddart Zone, a porphyry style mineralized showing
to the southeast of the Revenue Deposit, including drill hole 08ST-07
with 13.85 meters at 0.42% Cu, 0.03% Mo, 0.16 g/t Au and 5.4 g/t Ag
(previously reported in a news release dated October 20, 2011. Data
originally released March 26, 2009)
-- Geochemical surveying using soil and stream sampling in selected target
areas
-- Prospecting of unmapped portions of the property and over known
geochemical and geophysical anomalies
-- Baseline Environmental Work including water, fauna, and flora
-- Preliminary engineering and geotechnical studies (rock quality
characterization)
-- Selection of core samples for further metallurgical study
1See Table 2 (i) for Gold Equivalent calculation
2 See Table 2 (i) for Gold Equivalent calculation
John Burges, President & CEO, commented, “The Board is excited about the prospects from this aggressive drilling program. The planned program is approximately double the total drilling we did in 2011 which resulted in the recently announced Revenue resource. Revenue significantly grew the Company’s ounces and doubled our tonnage. However the whole western side of the Target Deposit at Revenue was excluded from that resource. We are confident that the planned drilling around Revenue will allow us to expand the resource here. Furthermore, we plan to target deeper known mineralization at Nucleus which currently has a resource only to a depth of approximately 280 meters from surface. Finally, we plan to drill some of the targets identified from our 2010 and 2011 Titan-24 geophysical surveys, several of which are coincidental to a significant 6km long gold and copper surface geochemical anomaly.”
Freegold Mountain – Yukon
The Freegold Mountain land package covers an area in excess of 198 square km (75 square miles) and is accessible by government maintained roads and a network of 4 wheel drive roads/trails. The Nucleus Deposit and the Revenue Deposit cover approximately 30 sq km. The Nucleus Deposit is primarily a gold system with some copper enrichment. The Revenue Deposit, with gold, copper and molybdenum shows similar geological and mineralogical characteristics to other deposits in the region which have developed multi-million ounce gold resources with multi-billion pound copper resources.
Nucleus Deposit (previously reported in February 2011)
The 43-101 compliant Drill Indicated and Inferred Resource for the Nucleus deposit is a near-surface, bulk-tonnage, potentially open-pittable deposit that is open to expansion laterally and at depth.
Table 1: Mineral Resource Estimate for Nucleus Deposit
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Gold Silver
-------------------- -------------------
AuEq(i) Contained Contained
Cutoff Grade Au Grade Ag
(g/t) Tonnes (g/t) ounces (g/t) ounces
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Indicated
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
0.40 48,499,000 0.70 1,096,000 0.90 1,398,000
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Inferred
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
0.40 41,449,000 0.47 627,000 0.98 1,307,000
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Gold
Copper Equivalent
-------------------- -------------------
AuEq(i) Contained
Cutoff Grade Cu Grade Contained
(g/t) % lbs (g/t) ounces
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Indicated
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
0.40 0.06 67,753,000 0.89 1,393,000
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Inferred
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
0.40 0.07 62,026,000 0.67 898,000
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(i) Gold equivalent (AuEq) for the Nucleus Resource is calculated based upon
prices of US$846/oz for gold, US$14.40/oz for silver, and US$3.31/lb for
copper with no discount for metallurgical recovery in contained metal
figures (note:total contained AuEq values may not add exactly because of
rounding).
Revenue Deposit (previously reported in January, 2012)
The 43-101 compliant Inferred Resource for the Revenue deposit is a near-surface, bulk-tonnage, potentially open-pittable deposit that is open to expansion laterally and at depth.
Table 2: Mineral Resource Estimate for Revenue Deposit
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AuEq Gold Silver Copper
(g/t) Tonnage ----------------- ----------------- -----------------
Cut-off (Mt) g/t Ounces g/t Ounces % Pounds
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.5 101 0.34 1,119,000 3.14 10,194,000 0.13 286,871,000
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
AuEq Molybdenum AuEq(i)
(g/t) ------------------ -----------------
Cut-off % Pounds g/t Ounces
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.5 0.04 89,606,000 1.08 3,659,000
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(i) Gold equivalent (AuEq) for the Revenue Resource is calculated based upon
prices of US$1,016/oz for gold, US$15.82/oz for silver, and US$2.95/lb for
copper and US$15.82/lb for molybdenum with no discount for metallurgical
recovery in contained metal figures (note:total contained AuEq metal values
may not add exactly because of rounding).
It is believed that the Revenue Deposit, the Nucleus Deposit to the west and the Stoddart Zone to the east are all part of a large scale gold-rich porphyry system, which extends in an east-west direction for more than 8 km. The system shows the same geological characteristics to other porphyry deposits in the region, including the Casino Porphyry Project located approx. 90 km to the northwest, which hosts multi-million ounce gold resources and reserves with multi-billion pound copper resources and reserves.
The mineral resource estimates have been prepared in compliance with the standards of NI 43-101 by A. Armitage, Ph.D., P.Geol., and J. Campbell, BSc, P.Geo., of GeoVector Management Inc. GeoVector is an Ottawa, Ontario based consulting firm specializing in resource estimation, project assessment and project management. J. Campbell acted as the independent Qualified Person for the resource calculation, as defined in NI 43-101.
The project is being managed by GeoVector Management Inc. http://www.geovector.ca under the supervision of A. Sexton and A. Armitage. Dr. Armitage is the V.P. of Exploration for Northern Freegold. J. Campbell is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, for the technical information in this news release.
About Northern Freegold
Northern Freegold Resources Ltd. trades in the United States on OTCQX under the symbol “NFRGF”, and in Canada on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “NFR”. Northern Freegold is a rapidly advancing Canadian-based precious metals exploration and development company. Northern Freegold brings wide-ranging expertise and strong management to focus on the development of its district-scale Freegold Mountain gold and copper project in the Yukon and the Burro Creek gold and silver property in Arizona.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
John Burges, President and CEO
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information: Statements in this press release include certain “forward-looking information”. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including, without limitation, the terms and expected closing date of the proposed private placement and the company’s use of the proceeds of the proposed private placement, contain forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that actual events may vary from the forward-looking information contained in this news release. Material risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information in this news release include, but are not limited to, changes in market conditions or regulatory requirements applicable to the private placement, inability of the Company to complete the proposed private placement due to inability to obtain regulatory approvals required to complete the proposed private placement or otherwise, uncertainties involved in the interpretation of drilling results and geological tests, the results of exploration being different than those anticipated by management and the need for cooperation of government agencies and First Nation groups in the exploration and development of the Company’s Freegold Mountain property. The forward-looking information in this news release is based on the assumptions that market conditions and regulatory requirements will not change in any material respect, that the Company will be able to obtain all approvals required for the completion, and to complete, the proposed private placement and that the Company’s planned exploration of its Freegold Mountain property will proceed as anticipated. The Company does not assume any responsibility for updating forward-looking information, except as required by law.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts: Northern Freegold Resources Ltd. Julie Hajduk Manager of Investor Relations +1 (604) 893-8757 or Toll Free: Toll Free: 1-877-893-8757 +1 (604) 893-8758 (FAX) julie@northernfreegold.com www.northernfreegold.com
SOURCE: Northern Freegold Resources Ltd.
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