Anchorage Daily News

FAIRBANKS -- A mining exploration company intends to spend about $8 million this year studying a gold deposit near Livengood northwest of Fairbanks.

Jeff Pontius, International Tower Hills chief executive, said the company expects to release a revised resource estimate at the end of June and results of an economic feasibility study at the end of July.

Crews started drilling exploration holes in February.

About 52 employees are operating four rigs around the clock, working toward a 2009 estimate of 45,000 meters drilled.

Data collected this spring suggests a find on a scale and quality comparable to a mine northwest of Fairbanks, the Fort Knox mine, Pontius said.

Under a best-case scenario, a Livengood gold mine could be operating within six or seven years, with at least a 10-year life, he said.

"Our company is pushing forward about as fast as we possibly can," Pontius said.

The mine likely would incorporate milling and heap-leach techniques, he said.

Rep. John Coghill, R-North Pole, said the project is promising for jobs and generating business. However, he cautioned against too much enthusiasm until the company is more certain about the find. "It's close enough to Fairbanks where it has a real economic benefit, but they are still prospecting," Coghill said.

Once the reserves can be stated with more certainty and the project deemed economical, International Tower Hills can begin permitting processes, Pontius said. The exploration company does not develop mines but would look for an established operator to buy into the project.

Groups of financial analysts from global investment firms have been traveling to Livengood to survey the find, speak with geologists and shore up International Tower Hills' claims. Pontius said the find has generated interest.

"There are not a lot of these big deposits out there," he said.

International Tower Hills so far has invested $28 million in the find. About $20 million of that was spent in Alaska.

Livengood, with only about 23 year-round residents, is 50 miles northwest of Fairbanks on the Dalton Highway at its junction with the Elliott Highway.

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