Livengood Project
The Livengood Project is located on a large gold resource located along the Trans Alaska Pipeline, about 70 miles north of Fairbanks. International Tower Hill Mines is exploring the deposit, focusing on an outcropping called "Money Knob", estimated, as of August 2011, to contain up to 20.6 million ounces of gold.
Overview
(Content derived from Ground Truth Trekking)
Exploration and placer mining have taken place in this area since at the least the 1970's but the current deposit has only recently been examined in detail. Because the deposit is located on the road system and near the power grid, commencing production is expected to be much easier than at remote deposits, such as the Donlin Creek prospect. International Tower Hill had been contemplating both a traditional mill similar to the nearby Fort Knox gold mine, as well as a heap-leach only operation with lower capital costs. However as of late 2011 they were focusing only on the larger "mill only" option. This would require 70-80 MW of power. The company has not yet determined whether they would draw power from GVEA in Fairbanks or generate the power onsite.
This mine would process about 100,000 tons of ore per day. By comparison, Fort Knox handles about 40,000 tons per day and Donlin Creek would process around 60,000 tons per day. Livengood's ore deposit runs underneath the Elliott Highway and it's open pit design would likely be visible from the road:
The potential for acid mine drainage at this site has not been determined, but the mine would use cyanide for gold extraction.
Proposed Operation
Exploration at the Livengood deposit is at an advanced stage, with a large drilling program planned for 2011. International Tower Hill hopes to revise their preliminary economic assessment of the deposit in late 2011, and is currently conducting baseline environmental studies, in addition to ongoing geologic work.
