26
27
THE JOURNAL - AN OFFICIAL PUBLICATION BY THE ALASKA MINERS ASSOCIATION
FEBRUARY 2026 | WWW.ALASKAMINERS.ORG
Alaska Silver Looks Into Illinois Creek Gold BY SHANE LASLEY
W ith the price of gold above $4,900 an ounce and silver nearing $100 an ounce, Alaska Silver Corp. is reeval- uating the potential surrounding the past-producing gold-silver mine on its Illinois Creek project about 300 miles west of Fairbanks. While much of Alaska Silver's explo- ration at Illinois Creek in recent years has focused on the Water- pump Creek carbonate replace- ment deposit and similar silver-rich CRD targets, the same mineralizing system produced a more gold-dom- inant deposit that was mined briefly about 30 years ago. "For the last few years, our focus has been on the Waterpump Creek Deposit, which contains some of the
highest silver grades in the world. However, the Illinois Creek deposit, which is part of the same extensive CRD system, is also a significant piece of the Project and, like Water- pump Creek, contains significant amounts of silver," said Alaska Silver CEO Kit Marrs. An open-pit mine and heap leach recovery circuit at Illinois Creek pro- duced an estimated 150,000 ounces of gold and 500,000 ounces of silver during intermittent operations starting in 1997. The $280 an ounce gold price at the time made the economics difficult, and the state of Alaska closed the mine in 2002. The early closure during a low gold price environment resulted in much of the deposit remaining unmined.
With the price of gold and silver both more than 15 times higher than when the mine was in oper- ation, Alaska Silver has updated the resource for the deposit at the past-producing mine. According to the new calculation, Illinois Creek hosts 9 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.92 grams per metric ton (260,000 ounces) gold and 29.7 g/t (8.3 million ounces) silver; plus 10.9 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 0.84 g/t (290,000 ounces) gold and 30.1 g/t (10.4 million ounces) silver. "All of the Illinois Creek resource is oxide materials, which are amena- ble to low-cost heap or vat leaching operations to recover both the gold and the silver," Marrs said.
2023 Sandvik QH332 …….…… #80 - 33204 1446 Hrs, Tracked Mobile Cone Crusher, 7.25” Feed, CCS Range 1/4” - 1”5/8” Chehalis, WA ………………..….…. $697,000
2023 Sandvik QE442 ……….… #80 - 44202 610 Hrs, Scalping Screen, 11.1 YD Hop- per, Stabilizing Legs, Cat C4.4 Engine Chehalis, WA …………………….…. $479,500
2022 Sandvik DX800R ….….…… #01 - 80004 2006 Hrs, Vertical Drill, Cab, Support Leg, Rod Changer, (US Spec) Chehalis, WA …..……………….…. $489,500
2021 Sandvik DX800R ……… #01 - 80002 1663 Hrs, Vertical Drill, Non Cab, Winch, Support Leg, Remote Control. Juneau, AK ……………..……….…. $419,500
2023 Sandvik QE141 ……….… #80 - 14103 554 Hrs, Scalping Screen, Hopper, 12’ 8” Tracked Chehalis, WA …………………….…. $198,500
Solutions for every step of the way. Mine Planning & Design
Maintenance & Fleet Management • Equipment Procurement • Preventative Maintenance Planning
• 3D, schedule-integrated planning Start-Up & Project Management • Contractor/Program Bidding • Site Management & Staffing Technical Reports & Studies
• DPM & Silica Mitigation Geologic Problem Solving • Thin Section Petrography • Alteration Analysis • Field Mapping
2023 Edge TS80 ………...….…… #80 - 80001 735 Hrs, Stacker, Tracked, Twin Drive Extensions fold for Transport Chehalis, WA …………………….…. $119,500
2018 Deere 350G LC …..…….. #36 - 35112 3421 Hrs, Pattern Changer, Aux Hyd, Hyd Pin Grabber, 10’6” Arm, Hyd Thumb Ketchikan, AK …………..……….…. $179,500
2022 Deere 824L ….….….…… #84 - 82403 6578 Hrs, Cab w Heat, 4 Wheel Drive, JRB Quick Connect, 6 CY Bucket Juneau, AK ……………..……….…. $269,500
• QP SK-1300/43-101 • Mining Economics • M&A Due Diligence
More at:
www.pindexmining.com
Made with FlippingBook - PDF hosting