Felix Gold strengthens management team, advances flagship Fairbanks District asset

Felix Gold (ASX: FXG) is building momentum as it continues to advance its flagship Fairbanks District asset in Alaska.

Alongside its strategic on-ground activities, the company has also strengthened its management team with the addition of a number of highly credentialled new appointments.

This includes the return of Joseph Webb as an executive director to take over operational oversight and management of the company following the resignation of Anthony Reilly as managing director and chief executive officer.

The company also strengthened its board with the naming of the experienced and accomplished Mark Strizek as a non-executive director.

Close relationship with company

A previous chief executive officer at Felix, Mr Webb has had a successful and close relationship with the company through his role as managing director of the Mine Discovery Fund, which played a key role in the formation of Felix Gold.

He was responsible for the establishment of Felix’s operations in Fairbanks and has remained heavily involved in the company’s operations and strategy since listing, providing a seamless transition to the managerial oversight of the company.

He also brings more than 20 years’ international experience in the resources industry, including previous commercial roles in Rio Tinto and executive and operations roles across the full mining life cycle.

Highly regarded geologist

Mr Strizek brings more than 27 years’ experience in the resource industry to his new board position, having worked as a geologist on various gold, base and technology metal projects.

He has a wealth of significant geological, technical and development expertise including playing a key role in Tietto Minerals’ (ASX: TIE) transition from IPO to first gold production at the Abujar Gold Project in West Africa.

His background includes work as an executive with management and board responsibilities in exploration, feasibility, finance and development-ready assets across Australia, West Africa, Asia and Europe.

Fairbanks provides significant upside

Speaking at Felix’s recent annual general meeting, chairman Ronnie Beevor, said the company’s substantial landholding in the world-class Fairbanks Gold District is a high-class asset.

“In Fairbanks, our tenements sit within one of the largest gold production centres in the entire Tintina belt and lie in close proximity to both Kinross Gold’s Tier 1 gold mine, Fort Knox, and the rapidly growing Freegold Ventures’ discovery, Golden Summit. We hold four key projects across over 392 square kilometres of tenure in the heart of this premier gold production district,” Mr Beevor told shareholders.

“Felix’s key projects are located only 20 minutes from our operational base in the central mining services hub of Fairbanks City, Alaska. This base is a huge advantage for Felix with its existing infrastructure, low- cost power, skilled workforce and long history of gold production. It allows us to explore year-round and delivers genuine potential development pathways for our assets.”

Considerable advances made

In his chairman’s address, he highlighted the considerable advances the company has made in the last 12 months towards the discovery of a potential multimillion ounce gold resource.

“The Felix team in Fairbanks executed two significant drill programs in season 2022 and 2023, with assays from the 2022 program confirming the discovery of significant near surface gold mineralisation at the NW Array target,” he said.

Following that program, Felix incorporated all assays from the 2022 season and calculated a JORC compliant exploration target for the NW Array Prospect of 1.1 million ounces to 3.6 million ounces, inclusive of a subset exploration target for the NW Array Southern Zone of 270,000 ounces to 890,000 ounces.

Impressive exploration results

In May the company commenced its 2023 drilling season with a target to drill 40 RC holes for 3,500m with the key objective to advance the geological confidence of the NW Array Southern Zone to enable delineation of a maiden JORC compliant mineral resource.

“I am pleased to report that our team in Fairbanks, led by Rebecca Gower, exceeded its objective by drilling 45 holes for 4,278m with assays confirming continuity of thick zones of near surface gold mineralisation including holes 23TCRC135 100.5m at 1.14 grams per tonne from 21.3m, 23TCRC138 70.1m at 1.6 grams per tonne from 6.1m and 23TCRC155 54.9m at 1.8g grams per tonne from 1.5m,” he said.

“Significantly, within the higher-grade gold zones, was the discovery of high-grade zones of the critical mineral Stibnite (antimony sulphide Sb2S3). Stibnite is on the US Government list of critical minerals and adds a new dimension and potential valuable by-product to a gold resource.”