Northern Miner: International Tower Hill doubles LInternational Tower Hill doubles Livengood resource
Vancouver - The Money Knob deposit is starting to live up to its name for International Tower Hill Mines (ITH-V).
The company started work on the Livengood gold project near Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2006 and produced an initial resource estimate earlier this year. Now it has almost doubled the project's defined ounces and intercepts pulled out of the ground after the estimate cut-off show strong potential for Money Knob to keep growing.
The resource at Livengood grew in size and grade with the latest calculation. Indicated resources now stand at 69.5 million tonnes grading 0.83 gram gold per tonne; inferred resources add 87.9 million tonnes averaging 0.77 gram gold. Together, indicated and inferred resources comprise 4.03 million oz. gold, using a 0.5 gram gold cut-off grade.
The previous estimate recognized 1.89 million oz. gold, using the same cut-off grade, and all were in the inferred category.
The new study incorporates only half of the drilling completed this year at Livengood. In the months since the calculation cut-off the company has pulled some promising intercepts. In particular, holes probing the depth and eastern extent of the Core zone returned thick alteration zones with good mineralization, such as 79.3 metres grading 1.16 grams gold from the east side of the zone and 57.9 metres of 2.51 grams gold from depth.
The intercepts are enough that International Tower Hill says it "anticipates a further major expansion of the open-ended resource" when the rest of the results are incorporated into another estimate, which it plans to have out early in 2009.
In addition the company decided to conduct a major winter drilling program to test the high-grade Core zone expansion targets. That program will get underway in February. Then a summer program will focus more on the Deep and Far East zones, as well as a new target southwest of the Core zone identified via surface geochemistry. The two programs are expected to cost $6 million.
The Money Knob deposit remains open in all directions; the company estimates that only 30% of the known shallow mineralization has been effectively drill tested. The mineralization defined to date covers an area roughly 3.6 sq. km and occurs essentially at surface, suggesting a low strip, bulk mining scenario.
Livengood sits 110 km north of Fairbanks along the paved Elliot Highway. The Trans Alaska pipeline corridor parallels the highway. The Alaska state power grid is accessible 55 km north of Livengood, along the pipeline corridor.
International Tower Hill gained 8¢ on news of the Livengood resource to close at $1.25. The company has a 52-week trading range of $1.10 to $2.40 and has 43.8 million shares issued