Freegold has reported a 213 metre intercept grading 1.24 grams per tonne gold in the Dolphin area of its Golden Summit project in Alaska, including 21 metres at 5.77 grams per tonne and 3.1 metres at 32.7 grams per tonne, in results from eight drill holes released this week. Other holes returned 79.3 metres at 1.11 grams per tonne and 18 metres at 2.47 grams per tonne. All intervals are downhole lengths, with true widths still undetermined.
The drilling is infill and resource conversion work ahead of a prefeasibility study targeted for 2027. Freegold has drilled more than 58,000 metres in 2026, past the roughly 50,000 metre campaign it outlined in April and the largest programme in the project’s history, with more than 100 holes completed. The study is evaluating a smaller starter pit intended to cut upfront capital and accelerate payback while keeping the option to expand, and an updated resource estimate will feed into it.
The resource being de risked is very large. As of July 2025, Golden Summit hosted an indicated primary resource of 17.2 million ounces at 1.24 grams per tonne, in 432 million tonnes, plus an inferred primary resource of 11.9 million ounces at 1.04 grams per tonne, and a smaller near surface oxide resource. The defined deposit occupies only the western part of a 13 kilometre by 6 kilometre property in a district that produced more than 6.75 million ounces of placer gold historically. “Golden Summit advanced on every major front this year, led by the largest drill program in the project’s history,” chief executive Kristina Walcott said.
The market response was muted: shares fell 3.19 percent to 91 Canadian cents on Friday, in the same weak tape that hit gold equities across the board this week. That reaction captures the project’s real constraint. At more than 29 million ounces across categories, Golden Summit does not need more ounces; it needs a development plan whose capital bill a company of Freegold’s size can finance, which is what the starter pit study is for.