ALASKA - ST ANDREW GOLDFIELDS of Oakville, Ont., has announced a temporary suspension at its Nixon Fork gold mine in the west-central part of the state. A program to better define the existing resources and identify new zones of gold-copper mineralization is planned. Mining began in Q4 2006.
St Andrew has encountered production issues at the upper portion of the 3300 zone of the Crystal deposit as the actual geometry of the mineralized zone is much different than the mineral reserve estimated. On Aug. 14, 2007, the plant was shut down to modify the mill circuits. Ongoing construction of these projects, mainly the cyanide leach facility and the installation of dry tailings disposal system, will also be suspended.
The 3000 and 3300 zones will be drilled to better define the mineralization. Both underground and surface drilling will be conducted during the winter and spring of 2007-08 along the 4-km-long monzonite-limestone skarn contact zone where previous drilling has intersected a number of anomalous zones.
A grassroots exploration program in the summer of 2008 will focus on several known zones of gold mineralization on the mine property, such as the Pupinsky and Cowboy shear zones and potentially on neighbouring projects through land acquisition.
The history of the Nixon Fork property is available at www.StAndrewGoldfields.com.
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