Felix Gold drills up wide intercepts at Treasure Creek

Felix Gold’s (ASX: FXG) maiden mineral resource estimate plans are off to a positive start with strong initial assay results received from the first 11 holes at its Treasure Creek project in the highly prospective Fairbanks Gold Mining District in Alaska, USA.

Managing director and chief executive officer, Anthony Reilly, said the early assay results from the NW Array Prospect at Treasure Creek has yielded significant findings.

“Our team has again excelled in the field, delivering more holes and metres than planned.”

“Consistent with last year’s program, these initial results confirm continuity of wide intersections of near-surface commercial grade gold mineralisation, and our team is gaining a better understanding of the structural orientation and controls of the system.”

Highlight holes continue to grow prospect

The NW Array drilling hit broad gold intercepts including 70m at 1.6 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 100.5m at 1.14 g/t gold.

Other wide intersections included 62.5m at 0.56 g/t gold from 1.5m.

Felix has now successfully completed the NW Array reverse circulation (RC) drilling program of 45 holes for a total drilling distance of 4,278m and assays from an additional 34 NW Array RC drill holes are currently pending.

The 2023 RC drill program at Treasure Creek is primarily targeting the NW Array Prospect to assess the continuity and potential extensions of gold mineralisation, particularly in shallow oxide resources, the company identified in 2022.

The initial 11 drill holes focused on establishing the continuity of gold mineralisation and determining the structural orientation and controls of mineralisation.

Geological logging and analysis from the initial drill holes has identified a significant NNE (north-north-east) trend in the most coherent gold mineralisation, leading to a subsequent drilling shift to further define this trend, which remains open.

The company’s ongoing drilling campaign is currently focused on the Traverse Prospect East near the Scrafford Prospect.

Maiden mineral resource estimate due this year

The largest minerals exploration acreage holder in the Fairbanks Gold Mining District, Felix is targeting the delineation of a commercial resource at the Treasure Creek project with the potential to provide a low capex/opex open-pitable ore supply.

The company believes that type of operation could possibly supply ore to Kinross Gold’s nearby Fort Knox mine. A tier 1 gold mine, its 2022 gold equivalent production was 291,248 ounces. Fort Knox currently has a forecast of mine life lasting until 2030.

The company is targeting the release of a maiden MRE in Q4 of 2023, with the current field season helping to advance the geological confidence of the NW Array Southern Zone.

Felix is using on site lithological interpretation (logging), geochemical data from handheld XRF to facilitate “near real time” understanding of mineralised zones to optimise drill hole completion and prioritisation of upcoming drill holes within the Exploration Target drill area.

Fairbanks’ gold rush history

Fairbanks became the centre of a major gold rush after the precious metal was discovered there in 1902.

Over time, the Fairbanks mining district became Alaska’s largest producer of gold, earning it the title “America’s Klondike.”

An estimated 15.4 million ounces of gold, or about one third of all the gold recovered in Alaska, were won from mineral deposits within 40 kilometres of the city of Fairbanks.

Large-scale mining activities returned in 1996 with the start-up of the Fort Knox mine.