By Alastair Ford
minesite.com

Theres been a string of good-looking news releases from Fire River Gold lately, as the company continues to deliver good grades up at its Nixon Fork gold mine in Alaska. Nixon Fork was a project that was left half finished by former owner St Andrews Goldfields, one that went into, and then out of production, and which was never really allowed to fulfil its full potential as St Andrews grappled with distractions elsewhere. But once St Andrews had bowed to the inevitable, the way was open for serial entrepreneur Harry Barr to step in with his umbrella organisation International Metals Group, and the specially formed vehicle that is Fire River.

Fire River took over Nixon Fork last year following an arduous but ultimately very successful fundraising, and pushed rapidly ahead with development. Production from old tailings is now on course to start in the autumn, with an underground re-start to follow on, once a mine development plan has been completed later in the year.

Currently Fire River is logging 9,400 metres of old core that St Andrews drilled, but the details of which were never released to market. Its been nice for the company to be able to pull these new assays out of its back pocket, especially as the numbers have been very encouraging. Indeed, Fire Rivers vice president, mining, Richard Goodwin puts it even more strongly: �The results have been spectacular, though not cherry picked. What we have released is typical of what we have put out. Were confirming the high grade values and constructing a model as we go along.�

High grades are key at Nixon Fork where the intersections are narrow, but with the latest assays showing, amongst others, 1.8 ounces per ton (opt) over 13.7 feet, 2.9 opt over 1.3 feet, 1.2 opt over 12.5 feet, 3.5 opt over 14 feet, and 1.6 opt over 3.3 feet, not to mention an average of 7.6 grams per ton on the tailings, the evidence to support the companys view that a re-start of mining is possible is growing.

The aim, says Richard Goodwin, is to �connect the dots and get the geology better understood�. Results from 76 more holes are pending, so theres plenty more to come. Once all the data has been collated the plan is to put out a resource estimate focusing on two of the most prominent zones of the underground sections of Nixon Fork, as well as the tailings. At that stage work on the mine plan for the potential underground operation will begin, while work on the tailings will move to the development. �The earliest we could get into production on the tailings would be fall�, says Richard Goodwin. Some of the parameters, likely the likely capital and operating expenditure ratios have yet to be fully worked out. But in principal building work could commence in the summer, and be complete within a matter of months.

Much of the plant, of course, is already in place, left over from St Andrews own attempts to make a go of Nixon Fork. Richard is confident, for example, that he can have Nixon Forks carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant up and running in short order, ready to meet the tailings production. Most of the CIL has already been installed, and the equipment to complete the installation is already on site. It will, however, take an additional C$4 million to complete, which may mean that Fire River will be back in the market for new funds before too long.

Ahead of that, the results from the old St Andrews core will continue to roll in, and the company will continue to hone and modify its understanding of the mineralisation at Nixon Fork. �We need to define the story before we go and sell it�, says Richard. After all, its a small operation, which will require some precision mining, and potential investors can be forgiven for asking a lot of questions, especially in the absence of a full feasibility study. No one will disagree with Richards view that to do a feasibility study on a project so well advanced that its already produced well in excess of 100,000 ounces, would be to do it a disservice.

On the other hand, the reassurance of a continued stream of high grade assay results will go a long way to assuaging any doubts that the company can get up and running at its stated cost level of US$500 per ounce. With the re-start on the tailings now hoving into view, the next steps to watch for will be news on the underground mine plan, and the potential cut-off grade. Itll be an interesting year.

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