Freeman Gold drilling Lemhi Project to upgrade resources, Idaho
Freeman Gold Corp. [TSXV: FMAN; OTCQB: FMANF; FSE: 3WU] has commenced resource upgrade and expansion drilling at the Lemhi Gold Project, Idaho, USA.
The 2025 reverse circulation (RC) drill program is targeting 3,000 metres (approximately 34 holes) of drilling designed to Convert the Inferred ounces from the current mineral resource estimate (MRE) to measured or indicated (approximately 1,740 metres over 24 holes). This portion will increase the drill density within the inferred resource that is contained within the pit shell as designed as part of Freeman’s Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) and complete further exploration at the open north and south extensions of the main Lemhi deposit and at the Beauty zone (approximately 1,300 metres over 10 holes).
These areas give the company the greatest chance to add near surface ounces to the existing mineral resource within and/or near the existing pit designed as part of the PEA.
There is an additional exploration target to the west, however, the high-grade mineralized zones are known to dip shallowly that direction. These targets are thus deeper than those being assessed now and will likely be part of a subsequent program that will also explore numerous regional exploration targets that are part of a filed plan of operations.
Bassam Moubarak, CEO, stated, “The 2025 RC drill program aims to both upgrade the confidence of the pit constrained resource and expand it with high-confidence exploration holes. Accomplishing these two objectives will further improve the scale and economics of the feasibility study currently being prepared by Ausenco. We will report results as they become available.”
The project is comprised of 10 patented mining claims (placer and lode), one patented mill site claim, and 332 unpatented mining claims, totaling 2,727 hectares of mineral rights and 249 hectares of surface rights. Freeman controls a 100% interest in all 11 patented claims and all 332 unpatented mining claims outright or through its wholly-owned subsidiary company. The Project is located in Lemhi County.
The 2025 drilling campaign aims to upgrade and increase the existing 2023 MRE. The underlying database contains a total of 525 drill holes with collar information, and assays covering 92,696 metres of drilling with 64,299 drill hole sample intervals. The sample database contains a total of 62,670 samples assayed for gold.
The 2023 Lemhi MRE utilized 442 drill holes that intersected the estimation domains of which 284 drill holes were completed between 1983 and 1995, and 158 drill holes were completed between 2012 and 2022. Inside the mineralized domains, there is a total of 16,234 samples analyzed for gold. Freeman has incurred approximately $26 million on drilling and drilling related costs since 2019.
The 2023 Lemhi PEA outlined a high-grade, low-cost, open pit operation with an average annual production of 80,100 ounces of gold in the first eight years. The production strategy envisions a phased development with an increase in throughput during the fifth year of operation, with a flowsheet utilizing a carbon-in-leach processing facility.
The poject comprises 30 km2 of highly prospective land, hosting a near-surface oxide gold resource. The pit constrained NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate is comprised of 988,100 ounces gold at 1.0 g/t gold in 30.02 million tonnes (4.7 million tonnes Measured (168,800 oz) and 25.5 million tonnes Indicated (819,300 oz)) and 256,000 oz gold at 1.04 g/t Au in 7.63 million tonnes (Inferred).
The company is focused on growing and advancing the project towards a production decision. To date, 525 drill holes and 92,696 metres of drilling has historically been completed (Murray K., Elfen, S.C., Mehrfert, P., Millard, J., Cooper, Schulte, M., Dufresne, M., NI 43-101 Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment, dated November 20, 2023.
The recently updated price sensitivity analysis shows a PEA with an after-tax net present value (5%) of US$329 million and an internal rate of return of 28.2% using a base case gold price of US$2,200/oz; Average annual gold production of 75,900 oz Au for a total life-of-mine of 11.2 years payable output of 851,900 oz gold; life-of-mine cash costs of US$925/oz Au; and, all-in sustaining costs of US$1,105/oz Au using an initial capital expenditure of US$215 million.