The indicated gold resource now totals 1.16 million oz. (19 million tonnes grading 1.9 g/t gold), representing an increase of 121% over the previous estimate. A vast majority of indicated resources were in pit. The inferred gold resource also increased 348% to 2.02 million oz. (28.3 million tonnes grading 2.22 g/t gold), about three-quarters of which were pit-constrained.
“This updated Fremont MRE provides a solid foundation from which the company can advance towards completing a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) and developing this gold project towards a production decision,” said CEO Kim Tyler in a media release.
“The project is enhanced over the previous mineral resource estimate by the inclusion of the Queen Specimen and underground component of the Pine Tree/Josephine deposit; however, this only evaluates 1.4 km of the entire 4-km strike length of the Fremont property,” Tyler added.
The next steps are to advance the ongoing technical studies and economic analyses for to complete the PEA, which would allow Stratabound to explore and reveal the potential of the Fremont project.
Shares of Stratabound Minerals surged 37.5% by market close Thursday following the Fremont resource update, giving the Canadian gold junior a market value of approximately C$9.7 million.
The Fremont property currently hosts three undeveloped gold occurrences across 4 km of strike length along California’s Mother Lode gold belt. Mining previously occurred at the Pine Tree/Josephine underground mines after the California Gold Rush, producing a total of126,000 oz. of gold. The mine closed in 1944 after nearly 100 years.
At Pine Tree/Josephine, Stratabound has envisioned a combined open pit and bulk underground mining operation based on nearly 26,000 metres of drilling by the previous owner. Exploration upside also exists at the Queen Specimen and Chicken Gulch zones.
