Alaska's modern day gold rush continues full stream ahead. Grande Portage Resources Ltd. has received approval to begin drilling at the Herbert Glacier Gold project in Juneau, according to a press release. The company expects to begin drilling Saturday. The Herbert Glacier project is located about 18 miles north of Juneau, and south of Couer Alaska's Kensington gold mine. Grande Portage Resources calls Herbert Glacier "one of Alaska's most promising districts and (it) has remained remarkably underexplored until now."
Meanwhile, NovaGold Resources Inc. announced Monday that it has signed an agreement to transfer its Rock Creek Property in Nome to the Bering Straits Native Corporation, according to the company's press release. This transfer will allow NovaGold to focus exclusively on its Donlin Gold project.
NovaGold is putting all its eggs in Donlin Gold's basket. "Donlin Gold is one of only seven gold assets producing or slated to produce in excess of a million gold ounces per year and would be only the third in … North America, offering a unique advantage to its owners." Gregory A. Lang, NovaGold's president and chief executive officer, said. "With the divestiture of Rock Creek, we can now concentrate our efforts on permitting and developing Donlin Gold, one of the world's largest and highest grade known gold projects," he added.
Alaska is in the midst of a modern day gold rush. The debut of Discovery Channel's "Bering Sea Gold" has captured the eye of would-be gold miners, bringing a new generation of miners to Nome. But that's just scratching the surface of Alaska's gold mining boom; get the full picture with a cool interactive map, here.