Freegold Drilling to Focus on Expanding Pogo-Style High-Grade Gold Veins at Rob

• Published in: Canada NewsWire
• Format: Newsletter
• Language: English
• Published: Ottawa PR Newswire Association LLC 31.03.2008
• Subjects: Drilling; Feasibility studies; Geophysics; Gold mines & mining; Manz, Steve; McEwen, Rob; Mineralization; British Columbia

VANCOUVER, March 31 /CNW/ - Freegold Ventures Limited (TSX: ITF, OTCBB: FGOVF, Frankfurt: FR4) is pleased to announce its 2008 work plans for its 100% leased Rob property in the interior of Alaska. The program will include ground geophysics, geologic mapping and additional core drilling to trace and expand the high-grade gold mineralization intersected in all eight of its core holes drilled into the Gray Lead vein last summer (including 29.0 g/t over 13 feet and 20.1 g/t over 13.5 feet), as well as additional mapping, geophysics and drilling on numerous other targets on strike and parallel to the Gray Lead vein. The gold-bearing veins encountered to date on the property share many geological similarities to those currently being mined 20 miles to the west at the 350,000 to 450,000 oz/year Pogo gold mine, and the numerous untested targets on the property that contain high-grade gold in surface grab sampling similar to those which identified the Gray Lead vein, will also be the subject of the upcoming exploration programs. Although Freegold acquired its initial interest in the Rob property in 2002, it was not until last year that the Company conducted its first drilling program at the property, given the focus that the new management team had initially given to the more advanced Almaden and Golden Summit properties. Since the opening of the nearby 5.6 million oz Pogo gold mine in 2006, the Goodpastor Mining District has received considerable investor attention, most notably with the consolidation of a 513,000 acre land package through staking and joint venturing by Goldcorp founder Rob McEwen. This large land package (subsequently merged into Rubicon Minerals) surrounds the Pogo mine and the Rob property, and was acquired due to the shared belief that the gold mineralization at Pogo is not a unique occurrence in the district. Freegold's initial drilling last year confirmed this to be the case with the intersection of high-grade gold mineralization in a similar vein hosted within the same gneissic dome that hosts the mineralization at Pogo. The 2008 work, consisting of mapping, ground geophysics and drilling, will commence following the snow melt in mid to late May and will initially focus on the Gray Lead vein. Eight holes (1,529 feet) were drilled into Gray Lead last year from two drill pads that identified the gold mineralized quartz vein over a strike length of 170 feet (the distance between the 2 drill pads) and a down dip length of 240 feet (the deepest hole to intercept the vein). Gold mineralization within the vein (which has a variable true width averaging in excess of 10 feet) remains open in all directions, and exhibited grades similar to the initial grab samples taken by Freegold in 2002, 2006 and 2007 (which included 7.4, 9.4, 17.1, 28.8, 20.5, 49.8 and 72.2 g/tonne). Results from this drilling can be found in the October 11, 2007 news release.