Updated Lemhi Mineral Resource Estimated
("MRE") increases contained ounces by 24%, overall gold grade by
16% and percentage of the MRE in Measured and Indicated by
32%
- The pit constrained MRE using a 0.35 gram per tonne gold
("g/t Au") cut-off and a gold price of US$1750 per troy ounce ("oz") is comprised
of:
-
- Measured and Indicated MRE of 988,100 oz gold ("Au") at 1.00
gram per tonne ("g/t") in 30.02 million tonnes.
- Inferred MRE of 234,700 oz Au at 1.01 g/t in 7.34 million
tonnes.
- Current MRE was constructed from a total of 81,497 m of drilling and 442 drillholes completed
between 1983 and 2022;
- The resource is modelled as primarily amenable to open pit
mining using standard, low-cost gold leaching technologies,
including carbon in leach and heap leach processing;
- Over 90% of the MRE contained within 100% owned patented
claims;
- The underground MRE (inferred) resource contains 21,300 oz
at 2.27 g/t Au;
- Resource remains open on strike to the north, south and west
as well as at depth;
- Resource assumes gold recoveries of 96.7 % using traditional
CIL/CIP based on recent metallurgy completed by Freeman.
Toronto Venture Stock Exchange: FMAN
VANCOUVER, BC, April 10,
2023 /CNW/ - Freeman Gold Corp. (TSXV: FMAN) (OTCQX:
FMANF) (FSE: 3WU) ("Freeman" or the "Company") is
pleased to announce results of the updated Mineral Resource
Estimate ("MRE") conducted on its 100% owned Lemhi Gold
Deposit located in Idaho. The MRE
was completed by APEX Geoscience Ltd., Edmonton, Alberta.
Paul Matysek, Executive Chairman
of the Company, stated, "Our new MRE for Lemhi firmly establishes this Project as one
of the few remaining large, high-grade oxide gold deposits in the
USA. We have successfully
increased the size of the deposit by 24% while maintaining an
approximate 1 g/t Au average grade. In addition to the
increased size, we have continued de-risking the deposit by
substantially improving the resource category with almost 1 million
ounces in the Measured and Indicated category. We now look forward
to incorporating this resource update into a maiden economic study
for Lemhi."
The updated MRE represents a 32% increase in Measured and
Indicated ("M&I") ounces as well as a 24% increase in
size and 16% increase in grade over the maiden resource released
just 20 months ago (see press release dated July 8, 2021). The significant increases can be
attributed to: infill drilling in previously defined areas of
inferred mineralization; expansion drilling to the north, south,
east and west; and, the discovery of the Beauty zone. The deposit
remains open to the north (1.23 g/t over 36m; FG22-034C), south (1.22 g/t over
38.59m; FG22-050C and 5.95 g/t over
9.14m; FG22-022C), and west (0.61 g/t
Au over 66m; FG22-011C).
All reported mineral resources occur within a pit shell
optimized using values of US$1,750
per ounce of gold ("Au") and a potential underground
economic shell that utilized a minimum mineralization thickness of
1 metre and a cutoff grade of 1.5 grams per tonne ("g/t")
lower cut-off. The Open Pit Measured, Indicated and Inferred MRE
are undiluted and constrained within an optimized pit shell, at a
0.35 g/t lower cut-off. The Open Pit MRE comprises a Measured
Mineral Resource of 4.47 million tonnes at 1.15 g/t Au for 168,800
oz of gold, an Indicated Mineral Resource of 25.55 million tonnes
at 0.98 g/t Au for 819,300 oz of gold, and an Inferred Mineral
Resource of 7.34 million tonnes at 1.01 g/t Au for 234,700 oz of
gold (Table 1). The potential underground Inferred MRE is undiluted
and was manually constrained to shells that showed a minimum
thickness of at least 1 metre at a lower cutoff grade of 1.5 g/t
and showed continuity of mineralization. The underground MRE
comprises an Inferred Mineral Resource of 296,000 tonnes at 2.27
g/t Au for 21,300 oz of gold (Table 1).
Table 1: 2023 Mineral Resource Estimate for the Lemhi Gold
Project, Idaho, USA
Cutoff
g/t
|
Zone
|
RPEEE
Scenario
|
Classification
|
Tonnes
|
Ounces
|
g/t
|
0.35
|
Lemhi &
Beauty
|
OP
|
Measured
|
4,469,000
|
168,800
|
1.15
|
0.35
|
Lemhi &
Beauty
|
OP
|
Indicated
|
25,553,000
|
819,300
|
0.98
|
0.35
|
Lemhi &
Beauty
|
OP
|
M&I
|
30,022,000
|
988,100
|
1.00
|
0.35
|
Lemhi &
Beauty
|
OP
|
Inferred
|
7,338,000
|
234,700
|
1.01
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.5
|
Lemhi
|
UG
|
Inferred
|
296,000
|
21,300
|
2.27
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0.35/1.5
|
Lemhi &
Beauty
|
Combined
|
Measured
|
4,469,000
|
168,800
|
1.15
|
0.35/1.5
|
Lemhi &
Beauty
|
Combined
|
Indicated
|
25,553,000
|
819,300
|
0.98
|
0.35/1.5
|
Lemhi &
Beauty
|
Combined
|
M&I
|
30,022,000
|
988,100
|
1.00
|
0.35/1.5
|
Lemhi &
Beauty
|
Combined
|
Inferred
|
7,634,000
|
256,000
|
1.04
|
Notes to Table
1:
|
1.
|
The mineral resource
is reported at a cut-off of 0.35 g/t Au for the conceptual open pit
and 1.5 g/t Au for the conceptual underground extraction scenario.
The lower cut-off grades and potential mining scenarios were
calculated using the following parameters: mining cost = US$2.10/t
(open pit mineralized);US$2.00/t (open pit waste), US$75/t
(underground mineralized) G&A = US$2.00/t; processing cost =
US$8.00/t; recoveries = 97%, gold price = US$1,750.00/oz; royalties
= 1%; and minimum mining widths = 1.0 m (underground) in order to
meet the requirement that the reported Mineral Resources show
"reasonable prospects for eventual economic
extraction".
|
2.
|
The mineral
resources presented are not mineral reserves and they do not have
demonstrated economic viability. There is no guarantee that any
part of the resources defined by the MRE will be converted to a
mineral reserve in the future.
|
3.
|
The Inferred Mineral
Resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence than that
applied to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted
to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority
of the Inferred Mineral Resource could potentially be upgraded to
an Indicated Mineral Resource with continued
exploration.
|
4.
|
The estimate of
Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental,
permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or
other relevant issues.
|
5.
|
A default density
ranging from 2.53 to 2.64 g/cm3 was used for the
mineralized zones depending upon the combination of host rock and
alteration. Resources are presented as undiluted and in
situ.
|
6.
|
The Mineral
Resources were estimated in accordance with the Canadian Institute
of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral
Resources and Reserves, Definitions (2014) and Best Practices
Guidelines (2019) prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve
Definitions and adopted by the CIM Council.
|
7.
|
This mineral
resource estimate is dated March 15, 2023. The effective date for
the drill hole database used to produce this mineral resource
estimate is February 1, 2023.
|
8.
|
Mr. Michael Dufresne
M.Sc., P.Geol., P.Geol., of APEX Geoscience Ltd., deemed a
Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 is responsible for the
completion of the MRE.
|
9.
|
Totals may not sum
due to rounding.
|
Estimation Methodology
The Lemhi Project database contains a total of 506 drill holes
with 64,299 sample intervals in a sample database with 62,670
samples assayed for gold. The Lemhi Project MRE utilized 442 drill
holes (81,497 m) that intersected the
interpreted mineralization wireframes, with 284 drill holes
completed between 1983 and 1995, and 158 drill holes completed
between 2012 and 2022. Inside the mineralized domains there is a
total of 16,234 samples analyzed for gold. The current drill hole
database is deemed to be in good condition and suitable for use in
ongoing MRE studies. Mr. Michael
Dufresne, M.Sc., P.Geol., P.Geo., President of APEX
Geoscience Ltd., is an independent Qualified Person ("QP")
and is responsible for the MRE.
Modeling was conducted in the Universal Transverse Mercator
(UTM) coordinate space relative to the North American Datum (NAD)
1983, National Spatial Reference System 2011, and State Plane Idaho
Central, (EPSG:6448). The mineral resource block model utilized a
block size of 2.5 m (X) x
2.5 m (Y) x 2.5 m (Z) in order to honour the interpreted
mineralization wireframes. The percentage of the volume of each
block within each mineralization domain was calculated and used in
the MRE. The gold estimation was completed using ordinary kriging
(OK), utilizing 8,938 composited samples within the interpreted
mineralization wireframes. The search ellipsoid size used to
estimate the gold grades was defined by modelled variograms. Block
grade estimation employed locally varying anisotropy, which allows
structural complexities to be reproduced in the estimated block
model.
Two mineralization domains were modeled at the Lemhi Gold
Project. The "Lemhi" domain which is the primary main domain and
the "Beauty Zone" domain which resides roughly 500 metres to the
west of the Lemhi domain. There
are two dominant styles of gold mineralization at the Lemhi Gold
Project. The primary mineralization occurs as a halo around an
intrusion with secondary mineralization along shallow dipping
foliation and faults. Both styles of mineralization generally occur
as stacked parallel sub-horizontal sheets.
A total of 14,208 specific gravity samples analyses were
available and utilized to determine the bulk density. The bulk rock
density shown in Table 2 was assigned based on three main geologic
units - the host-rock Metasedimentary package, the Intrusion, and
Silt Breccia.
Table 2: Assigned Bulk Rock value based on Geologic
Unit
Geologic
Unit
|
Assigned Bulk Rock
Value (g/cm3)
|
Metased
Package
|
2.64
|
Intrusion
|
2.58
|
Silt Breccia
|
2.53
|
The resource is classified according to the CIM "Estimation of
Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Best Practice Guidelines"
dated November 29, 2019, and CIM
"Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves"
dated May 10, 2014. The QP believes
the Lemhi Gold Project has the potential in future for eventual
economic extraction.
The current MRE is based on the addition of 70 new drill holes
and now contains 168,800 oz Au Measured (new as was zero in the
last MRE), and a total of 988,100 oz Au M&I which is a 32%
increase over the 2021 M&I
ounces. As well, 256,000 oz Au Inferred represents a slight
increase of about 2.3% in Inferred ounces versus the 2021 Inferred
ounces. The current open pit resource is shown in Figure 1. A
complete list of sections containing the current block model can be
found on Freeman's website.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical information in this news release
has been reviewed and approved by Michael
Dufresne, M.Sc., P.Geol., P.Geo., President of APEX
Geoscience Ltd. and a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101.
About the Company and
Project
Freeman Gold Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on
the development of its 100% owned Lemhi Gold property (the
"Project"). The Project comprises 30 square kilometres of
highly prospective land, hosting a near-surface oxide gold
resource. The current pit constrained mineral resource estimate is
comprised of 988,100 oz gold ("Au") at 1.0 grams per tonne
("g/t") in 30.02 million tonnes (Measured and Indicated) and
234,700 oz Au at 1.01 g/t Au in 7.34 million tonnes
(Inferred). As well, 21,300 oz Au at 2.27 g/t in 296,000
tonnes (inferred) make up the underground portion of the
resource. The Company is focused on growing and advancing the
Project towards a production decision.
On Behalf of the Company
William Randall
President and Chief Executive Officer
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements: This press release
contains "forward–looking information or statements" within the
meaning of Canadian securities laws, which may include, but are not
limited to statements relating to exploration, results therefrom,
and the Company's future business plans. All statements in this
release, other than statements of historical facts that address
events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are
statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not
always, identified by the words "expects," "plans", "anticipates",
"believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and
similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would",
"may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the
expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based
on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of
future performance and actual results may differ from those in the
forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking information
reflects the Company's views with respect to future events and is
subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. The reader is
urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through
the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic
Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more
complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential
effects. The Company does not undertake to update forward–looking
statements or forward–looking information, except as required by
law.
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SOURCE Freeman Gold Corp.