11-01
Fronteer Gold Inc. (FRG - TSX/NYSE Amex) announces that an
interim resource estimate for its wholly owned Long Canyon gold deposit has
increased the Measured and Indicated (M&I) resource by 700,000 ounces
at 38% higher grade, and increased the Inferred resource by 250,000 ounces
at 36% higher grade.
This significant increase in ounces at substantially higher grades has been
achieved almost entirely through infill drilling within the previously
defined (2009) footprint of the deposit. Mineralization at Long Canyon is
oxidized and open in all directions. Drilling in 2011 will focus on
resource expansion.
This new estimate captures all drilling to early November 2010, but does
not include the results from the last five weeks of step-out drilling,
which involved more than 30 additional holes. Within the next two months, Fronteer Gold will complete a second resource update
that includes all drill results from 2010 to form the basis of an updated
Preliminary Economic Assessment.
THE GROWING RESOURCE BASE
Quoted at a cut-off grade of 0.20 grams per tonne
gold, the updated Classified Mineral Resource consists of:
- An
M&I resource of 1,396,000 ounces at an average grade of 2.36 g/t
gold (18,371,000 tonnes) and,
- An
additional Inferred resource of 803,000 ounces at an average grade of
2.24 g/t gold (11,170,000 tonnes).
A cut-off grade of 0.20 g/t gold was chosen to be
consistent with the internal cut-off defined by Long Canyon's current
Preliminary Economic Assessment (see Dec. 1, 2009, press release).
"We are delighted with the pace at which Long Canyon is growing, and
the fact that gold grade is increasing as the deposit evolves. In our
view, Long Canyon is one of the highest quality development-stage gold
deposits in North America today in terms of its grade, metallurgy, strong
growth profile, low-cost production attributes, and jurisdiction,"
says Fronteer Gold Chief Operating Officer Troy Fierro. "At Long Canyon, we have already built the
foundation for near-term mine development, including securing a dominant
position in this emerging gold district, acquiring significant water and
private surface rights, and maintaining a strong treasury to fund the
project's advancement. With Long Canyon as our flagship asset in our
Nevada development platform, we are strongly positioned to achieve our goal
of becoming a significant premium North American gold producer."
A unique attribute of Long Canyon's resource estimate is that gold content
is relatively insensitive to cut-off grade. Applying higher cut-off grades
to the resource estimate dramatically increases the average grade of the
resource but only modestly reduces the number of contained ounces.
This relationship is best exemplified by the grade-tonnage distribution
shown at various cut-off grades in the table below.
COG
(g/t)
|
Measured
|
Indicated
|
Tonnes
|
Grade
|
Ounces
|
Tonnes
|
Grade
|
Ounces
|
(000s)
|
(g/t)
|
(000s)
|
(000s)
|
(g/t)
|
(000s)
|
0.2
|
762
|
2.91
|
71
|
17,609
|
2.34
|
1,324
|
1.0
|
458
|
4.51
|
66
|
9,286
|
3.98
|
1,187
|
3.0
|
218
|
7.53
|
53
|
3,848
|
7.21
|
892
|
5.0
|
136
|
9.65
|
42
|
2,592
|
8.80
|
733
|
|
M + I
|
Inferred
|
COG (g/t)
|
Tonnes
|
Grade
|
Ounces
|
Tonnes
|
Grade
|
Ounces
|
|
(000s)
|
(g/t)
|
(000s)
|
(000s)
|
(g/t)
|
(000s)
|
0.2
|
18,371
|
2.36
|
1,396
|
11,170
|
2.24
|
803
|
1.0
|
9,744
|
4.00
|
1,254
|
5,990
|
3.70
|
713
|
3.0
|
4,067
|
7.22
|
944
|
2,250
|
7.09
|
513
|
5.0
|
2,728
|
8.84
|
775
|
1,534
|
8.56
|
422
|
At 1.0 g/t cut-off, there is a 68% increase in
grade with only an 11% loss of metal. At 5.0 g/t cut-off, we retain
the same number of ounces as Long Canyon's last resource estimate (see May
19, 2010 press release), but at five times the average grade.
2011 GOALS
Since acquiring
100% of Long Canyon in late 2010 and expanding our exploration and
development program to year-round, it is our intention to update this
resource on an ongoing basis to keep pace with engineering work and
mine-planning activities. Long Canyon's comprehensive 2011 work program is
focused on aggressive resource expansion, as well as on the metallurgical, engineering and
environmental work necessary to move the project to feasibility stage. A
$30-million work program for 2011 includes:
- a year-round drill program
of more than 100,000 metres of exploration
and development drilling;
- additional updated resource
estimate in Q1 2011, inclusive of step out results;
- completing an updated
resource and updated Preliminary Economic Assessment in H1 2011;
- completing an additional
resource update near year-end 2011; and,
- commencing feasibility stage.
The Long Canyon mineral resource estimate was
completed by James Gray, P.Geo., Director of
Mineral Resources for Fronteer Gold, who is a
Qualified
Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and
validated that the information contained in the release is consistent with
the resource estimate. The Mineral Resource estimation methodologies were
independently reviewed at a high level, and were deemed to meet CIM
Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (2010), by
Harry Parker, P.Geo., Technical Director, AMEC, and Georges Verly, P.Eng., Chief Geostatistician, AMEC.
The resource model was constructed using a new and more geostatistically-driven
approach than has been used in previous Long Canyon resource estimates, and
was designed to capture the combined structural and stratigraphic
nature of gold mineralization. The model is based on manually-digitized 3
dimensional geological solids for 10 different lithological
units and 20 different structural domains that were used to constrain the
interpolation of high and low grade indicator probability shells. Gold
grades were then estimated for each 5x10x5 metre
block inside these probability shells by inverse-distance-cubed
interpolation. Finally, each block was diluted using grades from adjacent
blocks and outlying blocks were manually removed to ensure that the
criteria of 'reasonable expectations for economic extraction' have been
met. Classification of the resource is based on the strength of the
geological understanding of the deposit, combined with relatively
conservative search parameters, such as the number of, and average
distances to, nearest drill holes. This updated Mineral Resource estimate
is quoted at a cut-off grade of 0.20 g/t gold to be consistent with the
internal cut-off defined by Long Canyon's initial Preliminary Economic
Assessment (see Dec. 1, 2009, press release or NI 43-101 report, "Updated
Technical Report on the Long Canyon Project Elko County, Nevada, USA,"
dated June 28, 2010, and posted on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) on July 2, 2010. Further details of the
estimation procedure will be available in an updated NI 43-101 report,
which will be posted on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), no later than 45 days from
the date of this release
ABOUT FRONTEER GOLD
We intend to become a significant gold producer.
Our future potential production platform includes our Long Canyon, Sandman
and Northumberland projects - all located in Nevada. We also have a
40% interest in Halilaga, an emerging copper-gold
porphyry deposit in northwestern Turkey. For further information on Fronteer Gold, visit www.fronteergold.com or contact:
Mark
O'Dea, President & CEO
Patrick Reid, Senior Director, Institutional Marketing
Phone 604-632-4677 or Toll Free 1-877-632-4677
info@fronteergold.com
Except for the statements of historical fact
contained herein, certain information presented constitutes
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United
States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such
forward-looking statements, including but not limited to, those with
respect to potential expansion of mineralization, potential size of
mineralized zone, potential type of mining operation and timing and size of
exploration and development programs involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results,
performance or achievement of Fronteer Gold to be
materially different from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors
include, among others, risks related to the actual results of current
exploration activities, conclusions of economic evaluations, uncertainty in
the estimation of ore reserves and mineral resources, changes in project
parameters as plans continue to be refined, future prices of gold and
silver, environmental risks and hazards, increased infrastructure and/or
operating costs, labor and employment matters, and government regulation
and permitting requirements as well as those factors discussed in the
section entitled "Risk Factors" in Fronteer
Gold's Annual Information form and Fronteer
Gold's latest Form 40-F on file with the United States Securities and
Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. Although Fronteer
Gold has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results
not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance
that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future
events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Fronteer Gold disclaims any intention or obligation to
update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise. Accordingly, readers should not
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
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