| | |
| | |
| ||
| | | |
| | MAIN PROJECTS
 Round Up Core Shack Presentation Click here to view (PDF, 1.01 Mb)
 Richard H. Sillitoe Report Click here to view (PDF, 175 kb)
 Livengood Webslides Click here to view (PDF, 284 kb) | | |  Resource Summary ITH Doubles Gold Resource at Livengood Project, Alaska 1.86M Ounces Gold Indicated and 2.17M Ounces Gold Inferred The Livengood deposit is a major new North American gold discovery located in Alaska along the Trans Alaska Pipeline route, 110 kilometres north of Fairbanks. By the end of the 2008 drilling program the deposit will have ~170 holes defining a deposit covering at least 2 square kilometres in area and remaining open in all directions. A recent midyear (October 2008) resource calculation incorporating 116 holes (32% of the drilling with pending assays) has defined a +4M ounce deposit that is rapidly growing, making it one of the top 4 North American discoveries owned 100% by a Junior explorer. The new 2008 midyear resource is ITH's first step in defining a World Class gold deposit. This new resource, as compared to the initial 2007 numbers has posted significant increases in ounces (Tables 1 & 2) and particularly at higher grades with a 160% increase in the overall gold ounces when calculated at a 0.7 g/t gold cutoff, highlighting the overall grade increase by the new drilling (Table 3). Table 1 Comparison of Livengood Resources from 2007 and 2008 (at 0.50 g/t gold cutoff).
Table 2 Comparison of Livengood Resource from 2007 and 2008 (at 0.30 g/t gold cutoff).
Table 3 Comparison of Livengood Resource from 2007 and 2008 (at 0.70 g/t gold cutoff).
Figure 1. Mid Year 2008 Livengood Resource Model at 0.5 g/t Gold cut off is shown above in the pink and red blocks (Giroux Oct 2008). The Cross Section line shown corresponds to Cross Section 428925 (Figure 5) below. Exploration Plan and Budget for 2008 ITH utilized 2 RC drill rigs and 1 core rig which operated 24 hours per day seven days per week to grid drill the Core Zone which covers an area approximately 2 km by 800 m, at nominal 75 m spacing. This program will test both the volcanic hosted and higher-grade sediment hosted targets within the main structural corridor of the deposit. ITH completed the 2008 resource update in October (based on approximately half of the drilling results thus far) to forward these expansion goals and is working on a gold characterization study to better understand the gold occurrences and dissemination. As part of the Company's proactive environmental stewardship plan an archeological study and an environmental base line are underway. The plan for 2009 is to continue with the Resource Definition Drill expansion of the deposit in the newly discovered Deep and Far East zones as well as the deposit in general. Modeling of the existing drill data with surface geochemistry has identified a new target area to the south-west of the Core Zone that will be tested in February, 2009. If these new large areas of surface gold returns positive results it could double the area of mineralization currently outlined in the existing resource estimate. Following the anticipated completion of the winter drilling in the second quarter of 2009 the Company plans to complete an updated 2009 resource estimate that will be used in a preliminary economic assessment of the deposit currently planned for mid-2009. A budget of approximately CAD $6M has been planned for the winter and summer programs in 2009. Project Summary The Livengood project contains a large, bulk-tonnage target that is related to 90 million year old monzonitic intrusions, similar in age to those that host the Fort Knox deposit. This bulk-mineable deposit lies in a logistically favorable area due to its proximity to Fairbanks and location along the Elliott Highway. ITH is developing the Livengood deposit to the resource definition stage and most recently released a Canadian National Instrument compliant updated resource report in October 2008. Location Livengood is located approximately 120 km northwest of Fairbanks, Alaska in the Tolovana Mining District within the Tintina Gold Belt. The primary target lies in the center of the historic Livengood Placer District which has produced in excess of 500,000 ounces of gold since 1914. The property can be accessed year-round by the all weather paved Elliott Highway and secondary roads. The property has the benefit of being along the industrial route used to service Prudhoe Bay's oil and gas fields and is within eye shot of the Alyeska Oil Pipeline, a very auspicious location. Ownership The property consists of 4,375 hectares (44 km2) of a Lease with the State of Alaska, Leases with individuals for State and Federal claims and a Lease with individuals for private lands. ITH controls 100% of the property package which is subject to sliding scale royalty, land payments and work commitments. Environmental and Cultural Concerns The State of Alaska and Bureau of Land Management both provide transparent permitting processes which promote responsible modern exploration and mining techniques in Alaska. ITH is committed to the environment and community of Alaska and commissioned an archeological study and an environmental base line study of the property as part of the Company's proactive stewardship plan. Property Background The Livengood Property has been prospected, explored and placer mined by several companies and private individuals since the 1970s with 19 holes drilled prior to AngloGold Ashanti (U.S.A.) Exploration Inc. acquisition in 2003; which marked the first application of modern exploration techniques in the area. AngloGold drilled 12 RC and core holes defining and confirming the broad large-tonnage gold system. Studies conducted by the State of Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys in 2004 defined the source area for the placer gold in the Livengood District as the target for the large bulk-tonnage system subsequently under deeper investigation by ITH. ITH acquired Livengood from AngloGold in August of 2006, aggressively drilled the surface gold anomalies and in return discovered a significant gold deposit in 2007. ITH drilled 7 core holes in 2006 and 15 core holes in 2007 to produce the first resource estimation on the property of NI 43-101 Compliant 3.1 million ounces of contained gold and defined the Core Target area (Figure 2) within the original gold in soil anomaly. ITH's 2008 Resource Definition drilling program thus far reports the deposits gold resource upgraded to Indicated and Inferred categories as well as increased grade of 17%. Figure 2 Livengood project area with the surface gold anomaly shown with respect to the Core Target area currently under resource expansion drilling by the Company. Figure 3 Livengood's core zone will be drilled on nominal 75 m centers as part of the 140,000 m 2008 Resource Definition Program. This drilling targets the primary structural zone of the deposit identified to date. Resource Definition Summary In 2007 ITH delivered a NI 43-101 inferred resource of 188 Mt of material present at an average grade of 0.54 g/t gold and 0.30 g/t silver for a total of 3.269 M oz of gold and 1.789 M oz of silver. In 2008 ITH prepared mid-year mineral resource estimate for the deposit, incorporating approximately half the drilling that has been completed. In addition, the Company is very pleased to see such a large percentage of the estimated resources upgraded to the indicated category (approximately 45% indicated resources and 55% inferred resources) noting that the average grade of the previous 2007 inferred resource increased significantly in the 2008 indicated resource (a 17% increase in grade), see Tables 1, 2 and 3 above. The 2008 Independent study notes that the Livengood Deposit has significant expansion potential beyond its current 1.86M ounce indicated and 2.17M ounce inferred gold resource estimate (at 0.5 g/t gold cutoff), with assay results still pending for ~50% of the 2008 drill holes and the deposit remaining open in all directions. New deep and eastern step out drill holes to the Core Zone have intersected thick alteration zones, highlighting the potential for significant near-term expansions of the deposit. ITH anticipates a further, major expansion of the open-ended resource when the results from the outstanding drilling are returned and an 'end-of-program' resource estimate is completed in mid-first quarter 2009. Preliminary gold characterization results indicate very high, rapid cyanide extractions for the oxide and weakly oxidized ores (averaging 96.7%). The results of cyanide extraction tests carried out on selected samples are outlined in. Samples were selected to represent variations in the grade, degree of oxidation and alteration style. The results show that the gold is readily recovered from the oxidized and partially oxidized ore types with lower recoveries from un-oxidized ores. ITH has ordered further testing to determine the heap leach potential for the Livengood ore as well as additional testing of the un-oxidized ore to determine the optimum and most cost effective extraction method.
Table 1 Preliminary Cyanide Extraction Results*
* Samples were 300 gram bottle rolls with sample material crushed to ~200 mesh and sampled every 8-10 hours for a total of 48 hours Mineralization and Deposit Type Local mineralization consists of gold in multiple stages of quartz veins associated with variable amounts of pyrite, arsenopyrite, stibnite, and minor to trace amounts of other sulfides. Vein and disseminated mineralization are spatially and possibly genetically associated with dikes and sills of monzonite, diorite, and syenite composition and are hosted by sediments and volcanoclastic units. These host rocks consist of three, thrust-bound assemblages that include Devonian sediments and volcanics, Cambrian mafic rocks, and basement Paleozoic to Proterozoic sediments and volcanics. This entire sequence was intruded by a series of ~90 million year old dikes and sills (Fort Knox/Tintina Gold Belt age). Figure 4 Quartz-stibnite-arsenopyrite vein in albite altered crystal lithic tuff. This sample is from hole MK-08-18 at 134m depth. Mineralization at Livengood is both stratigraphically and structurally controlled and associated with a series of NW trending faults. Mineralization has been found in three styles; stratiform volcanic-hosted, stratiform sediment-hosted and intrusion-hosted. Gold occurs as native gold in association with pyrite, albitic alteration and quartz veining. Within the stratiform bodies higher grade zones (+1g/t Au) are developed along structural feeder zones. Geologically, the sediment-hosted mineralization displays strong similarities to the world-class gold deposits of Nevada. Figure 5 Section 428925 illustrating the general geology of the Livengood deposit and distribution of gold mineralization. The histogram on the right side of the drill trace reflects the arsenic content, which has demonstrated a high correlation to gold (note pending holes). The Red zone illustrates that the ore body is open to the south. Figure 6 Plan map showing distribution of ITH drilling and status of assay results as of September 29, 2008. Drilling has quadrupled the size of the 2007 drilled area, focusing on expanding higher-grade Core Zone. The collars of holes with continuous intercepts of greater than 50 metres width and greater that 1 g/t gold are highlighted with red symbols.
Table 2
Summary of all Livengood Drill Holes in Core Target Area (as of September 29, 2008)*
Table 3
| | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |  Home Corporate Projects Investors News QwikReport Contact | | |
| | ©2007 International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. All Rights Reserved | Cautionary Notes |  | |
