On another bulletin board, it was asserted that 7 million ounces of gold had been produced in the vicinity of Northern Freegold.

The truth is that there has never been a hard rock gold mine in the Yukon that produced 7 million ounces. Or even several mines in a district that produced that much. It is quite likely that that much or more has been produced by placer miners in the last 110 years. Fort Knox in Alaska is a substantial mine, and yes, it is in the Tintina Trench too, but it is quite a distance from Freegold Mountain.

It is also quite possible that there is that much gold in the ground at Freegold Mountain, although it remains to be proven.

The only substantial historic gold mine near Northern Freegold's properties, but not on them, was the historic Mount Nansen Mine. In 1967-68 a 270 tpd flotation mill was built there. 14,500 tonnes of development muck produced in 1967-68 had an average grade of 7.8 g/t gold and 162 g/t silver. In 1969, the mine had an average grade of 11.7 g/t gold and 282 g/t silver. But the mill had a poor recovery rate of only 60-65%, and was forced to shut down in April 1969. It re-opened in 1975 to produce 5450 tonnes at 16.8 g/t gold, 248.8 g/t silver, but was again shut down shortly after, in 1976. Over 4572 meters of underground development was completed on three veins. Commercial production resumed in 1997 from surface oxide zones, and continued until 1999, when all mining and operations ceased. This operation produced about 2700 oz of gold in 1997, 15190 oz in 1997, and 3738 oz in 1998.

This information, as well as historic information on the Tinta Hill Property (part of the Freegold claims) is available for free download in the Yukon Mineral Property Update 2007 at the EMR website (posted in the Link Library).

MR