Freegold Ventures Limited
TSX: ITF OTCBB: FGOVF FRANKFURT: FR4 www.freegoldventures.com
News Release March 31, 2008
Freegold Drilling to Focus on Expanding Pogo-Style High-Grade Gold Veins at Rob
March 31, 2008 (Vancouver, BC) -- 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.
The initial work at Gray Lead will be mapping and ground-based geophysics aimed at tracing the vein further along strike followed by an initial 3,000 feet of core drilling which is expected to start at the beginning of July. Step-out drilling of 175 feet in both the north and south directions along strike will test the vein over a strike length in excess of 500 feet. Deeper holes will also allow the down dip extension of the vein to be tested to a depth of approximately 400 feet.
Approximately 2,000 feet of drilling will also be undertaken on the Michigan prospect. This prospect lies approximately 2 miles to the northeast of Gray Lead and is situated on strike and on the same mapped geological structure which hosts Gray Lead. Previous surface mapping has shown that the Michigan prospect appears to be a series of intrusive hosted mineralized structures rather than a single vein at this location. This area has never been drill tested, and previous grab sampling by Freegold in this area has returned assays of 0, 2.4, 2.9, 6.4, 11.5, 24.3, 29.8, 120.6, 175.1 and 698.9 g/tonne (information concerning these samples can be found in the August 30, 2007 news release.) Drilling is expected to be from three fences approximately 175 feet apart that will test the target to a depth of at least 300 feet.
Exploration will also be conducted on other target areas on the property including the Grizzly and Blue Lead veins (which appear to be the same structure), the Upper and Lower Trench prospects, the Wolverine prospect and several other areas of mineralization identified by previous exploration work. As seen below, grab samples from these prospects have also returned excellent gold grades, and 2008 surface work will be used to guide future drill testing.
Prospect Year
Sampled Gold Grade (g/t) Gold Grade (oz/t) Prospect Year Sampled Gold Grade (g/t) Gold Grade (oz/t)
Hilltop 2002 8.7 0.25 Blue Lead 2006 46.7 1.36
Upper Trench 2002 8.8 0.26 Blue Lead 2006 1.1 0.03
Lower Trench 2002 15.4 0.45 Blue Lead 2006 19.6 0.57
Lower Trench 2002 14.4 0.42 Blue Lead 2006 0.2 0.004
Lower Trench 2002 22.3 0.65 Grizzly 2007 31.8 0.93
Blue Lead 2006 23.5 0.69
Freegold President and CEO, Steve Manz stated "We have been very fortunate to have secured the drill rigs we need for our various programs for this year, and 2008 is expected to be our most active year ever in terms of the number of drilling programs being undertaken on all of our properties. We are very excited about the new drilling at Rob in the coming months, and hope that the high grade grab samples we have previously collected at the other prospects on this 4 mile long property are as indicative of the high-grade vein mineralization underneath as they were at Gray Lead. Drilling at Golden Summit continues to go extremely well, and initial results from this work are expected shortly".
Assay results for grab and core samples cited herein were obtained from samples collected by Avalon Development Corporation, consultants to Freegold, under the supervision of Curt Freeman, MS., PGeo, Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Alaska Assay Laboratories in Fairbanks, Alaska was used to analyze the drill core and grab samples collected in 2006/2007 via fire assay analysis for gold plus multi element ICP-AES and ICP-MS analysis using 4 acid digestion. The grab samples in 2002 were submitted to ALS Chemex in Fairbanks, Alaska (prep) and Vancouver, B.C. (analytical) for fire assay analysis for gold plus multi element ICP-AES analysis using 4 acid digestion. Given the high-grade results returned from many of the core fire assays, samples which returned grades in excess of 1 g/t were re-analysed using the metallic sieve method. On average, the met screen results were 7.4% higher than those generated by fire assay, and a simple scatter plot of the data showed a relatively linear pattern centred on the 1:1 correlation line, suggesting that there is no predictable nugget effect and that the results can be seen as reliable.
The Qualified Person, Michael P. Gross, M.S., P. Geo., VP Exploration, Freegold Ventures Limited has reviewed and approved the contents of this release.
About Freegold Ventures Limited
Freegold Ventures Limited is a North American exploration and development company with a management team experienced in mine development and production that is actively exploring advanced-stage gold projects in Idaho and Alaska. Freegold holds a 100% lease interest in the Almaden gold project in Idaho. This large tonnage epithermal gold deposit was the subject of a feasibility study in 1997 calling for the development of a 95,000 oz/year open pit, heap leach mine. Freegold has recently finalized a 54,700-foot drilling program aimed at further expanding the size of the resource and is in the process of generating a new 43-101 resource prior to undertaking new economic evaluations in 2008. Drilling at depth and to the north and south of the known mineralization is continuing to identify new extensions to the deposit, and newly identified open ended areas of molybdenum mineralization continue to be encountered along with the gold in the northern portions of the deposit.
Freegold's 40,100-foot drill program has resulted in the discovery of new high-grade veins and bulk tonnage shear zones on its Golden Summit project outside Fairbanks, Alaska. Over 7 million ounces of gold has historically been recovered from Golden Summit which is situated less than 5 miles to the north of the +7 million ounce Fort Knox Mine. In order to further evaluate the mineralized zones delineated to date, an on-site seasonal bulk sample processing plant using a gravity-based concentration was constructed. Exploration is ongoing as the Company continues to define additional areas of larger, lower grade mineralization through on-going drilling and stripping.
Exploration in 2007 included an airborne geophysical survey and surface sampling program on the 140,000 acre Vinasale property which contains the Vinasale gold deposit and drilling on the Rob property in Alaska, which intersected high-grade gold in near surface quartz veins similar in appearance and grade to those being mined at the nearby 5.6 million ounce Pogo mine.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
"Steve Manz"
Steve Manz
President and C.E.O.
For further information:
Kristina Walcott -- VP Corporate Development
1.604.662.7307 jkw@freegoldventures.com
1750 - 700 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, V7Y 1B6
http://www.freegoldventures.com
The Toronto Stock Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. CUSIP: 45953B107
DISCLAIMER
This news release contains certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time with the Toronto Stock Exchange, British Columbia Securities Commission and the United States Securities & Exchange Commission. This email should not be construed as an offer to buy or sell securities of Freegold Ventures Limited.
Quelle: www.freegoldventures.com
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bernd_41de
: wenn der bäcker ausuteigt, dann bricht der kurs ein, wie bei all seinen aktien,