International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. (TSX:ITH)(NYSE Amex:THM)(FRANKFURT:IW9) has announce the results from the latest 30 holes completed in its 55,000-metre Summer 2010 Livengood Exploration Program.
Highlights
- MK-10-62: 18.4m @ 4.2 g/t & 17 m @ 2.4 g/t gold – Core Zone Infill
- MK-RC-0440: 15.m @ 3.1 g/t gold – Core Zone Infill
- MK-RC-0448: 47.3m @ 1.8 g/t gold – Core Zone Infill
- MK-RC-0438: 38.1m @ 1.7 g/t & 12.2 m @ 4.6 g/t gold – Core Zone Infill
- MK-RC-0449: 74.7m @ 1.3 g/t gold – Core Zone Infill
- MK-10-64: 75.9m @ 1.1 g/t & 3.4m @ 8.3 g/t gold – Sunshine Zone Infill
- MK-RC-0429: 77.7m @ 1.0 g/t gold – Core Zone Infill
The Summer 2010 program is focused on the conversion of the existing NI 43-101 indicated and inferred resources to the measured and indicated categories through infill drilling, as well as step-out resource expansion and mine development-related engineering and environmental testing. The Company is currently operating seven drills at Livengood (three RC and four core rigs).
Highlights of the ongoing 2010 work program at Livengood include:
- Infill drilling continues to expand and add greater definition of near surface, higher grade areas in the Core and Sunshine zones. Recent results continue to outline significant zones of higher grade mineralization in the top 150 metres of the deposit, which will be the key economic drivers of starter pit design work in the coming months. Several significant intervals highlighted in this news release in this shallow zone are: MK-RC-0448, 47m @ 1.76 g/t gold beginning at 96 metres; MK-RC-0446, 32m @ 1.39 g/t gold beginning at 78 metres; MK-RC-0440 15m @ 3.11 g/t gold beginning at 24 metres; MK-RC-044, 1 27m @ 1.09 g/t gold & 31m @ 1.57 g/t gold beginning at 11 metres and MK-10-62, 18m @ 4.18 g/t gold & 71m @ 0.98 g/t gold beginning at 67 metres.
- Completion of infill drill holes below the floor of prior drilling (approximately 300 metres in depth) in the Core Zone continues to expand this dimension of the deposit. Ten of 18 Core Zone drill holes reported in this news release have significant intercepts below the general floor of previous drilling (MK-RC-0432, 17m @ 1.85 g/t gold beginning at 384 metres; MK-RC-0443, 15m @ 1.08 g/t gold beginning at 299 metres; MK-RC-0440, 11m @ 1.08 g/t gold beginning at 291 metres).
Livengood Project Highlights
- Drilling at the project continues to expand the deposit, with the current estimated resource only representing a snapshot in time. The latest resource estimate (as at June 22, 2010) of 409 Mt at an average grade of 0.83 g/t gold (10.9Moz Indicated) and 94 Mt at an average grade of 0.79 g/t gold (2.4Moz Inferred), both at a 0.5 g/t gold cut-off grade, makes Livengood one of the largest new gold discoveries in North America.
- The Core and Sunshine Zones together account for most of the higher grade mineralization (Indicated Resources of 202 Mt at an average grade of 1.07 g/t gold and Inferred Resources of 40 Mt at an average grade of 1.06 g/t gold, based on a cut-off grade of 0.70 g/t gold) and will form the basis for starter pit design work.
- Ongoing metallurgical studies are focusing on the potential use of milling, with a flotation-gravity circuit, which has returned initial recoveries to a concentrate of 89%, thus offering significant potential for operational and capital cost savings. Optimization work is ongoing for these processing alternatives, as they have the potential to make a significant positive impact on project economics.
- The geometry of the currently defined shallowly dipping, outcropping deposit has a low strip ratio amenable to low cost open pit mining which could support a high production rate and economies of scale.
- No major permitting hurdles have been identified to date.
- The Livengood project has a very favourable logistical location, being situated 110 road kilometres north of Fairbanks, Alaska along the paved, all-weather Elliott Highway, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Corridor, and the proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline route. The terminus of the Alaska State power grid lies approximately 80 kilometres to the south.
- ITH controls 100% of its approximately 145 square kilometre Livengood land package, which is made up of fee land leased from the Alaska Mental Health Trust, a number of smaller private mineral leases and 115 Alaska state mining claims.
Geological Overview
The Livengood Deposit is hosted in a thrust-interleaved sequence of Proterozoic to Palaeozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Mineralization is related to a 90 million year old (Fort Knox age) dike swarm that cuts through the thrust stack. Primary ore controls are a combination of favourable lithologies and crosscutting structural zones. In areas distal to the main structural zones, the selective development of disseminated mineralization in favourable host rocks is the main ore control. Within the primary structural corridors, all lithologies can be pervasively altered and mineralized. Devonian volcanic rocks and Cretaceous dikes represent the most favourable host lithologies and are pervasively altered and mineralized throughout the deposit. Two dominant structural controls are present: 1) the major shallow south-dipping faults which host dikes and mineralization which are related to dilatant movement on structures of the original fold-thrust architecture during post-thrusting relaxation, and 2) steep NW trending linear zones which focus the higher-grade mineralization which cuts across all lithologic boundaries. The net result is broad flat-lying zones of stratabound mineralization around more vertically continuous, higher grade core zones with a resulting lower strip ratio for the overall deposit and higher grade areas that could be amenable for starter pit production.
The surface gold geochemical anomaly at Livengood covers an area 6 kilometres long by 2 kilometres wide, of which approximately half has been explored by drilling to date. Surface exploration is ongoing as new targets are being developed to the northeast and west of the known deposit.
Qualified Person and Quality Control/Quality Assurance
Jeffrey A. Pontius (CPG 11044), a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Pontius is not independent of ITH, as he is the President and CEO and holds common shares and incentive stock options.
Development work at the Livengood Project is directed by Carl E. Brechtel (Colorado PE 23212, Nevada PE 8744), who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. He is a member of SME, AusIMM and SAIMM. Mr. Brechtel is not independent of ITH, as he is the COO and holds incentive stock options.
The work program at Livengood was designed and is supervised by Chris Puchner, Chief Geologist (CPG 07048), of the Company, who is responsible for all aspects of the work, including the quality control/quality assurance program. On-site personnel at the project photograph the core from each individual borehole prior to preparing the split core. Duplicate reverse circulation drill samples are collected with one split sent for analysis. Representative chips are retained for geological logging. On-site personnel at the project log and track all samples prior to sealing and shipping. All sample shipments are sealed and shipped to ALS Chemex in Fairbanks, Alaska for preparation and then on to ALS Chemex in Reno, Nevada or Vancouver, B.C. for assay. ALS Chemex's quality system complies with the requirements for the International Standards ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 17025:1999. Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored by the analysis of reagent blanks, reference material and replicate samples. Quality control is further assured by the use of international and in-house standards. Finally, representative blind duplicate samples are forwarded to ALS Chemex and an ISO compliant third party laboratory for additional quality control.
Source: International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.