Diamond Gold Corp. announces world-class gem field

YENLO HILLS — How’d you like to own an opal or a diamond mined in the Mat-Su Valley? Well, now you can.

So far opals, sapphires, rubies, garnets and diamonds have been mined and cut from the Yentna Gem Fields, owned by Diamond Gold Corp.

Haven’t heard of the Yentna Gem Fields on Sable Creek? You’re not alone.

The large diamond and colored gemstone mine is one of several mines and prospects in the Yentna Mining District owned by Diamond Gold’s Ed and Ann Ellis of Willow. Their string of mines and camps also includes Sable Mine, Yenlo Mine and Kahiltna River Mine.

“At the present level of completed development, we consider this a world-class discovery,” Ed said.

Ann said the company recently set up a booth at an Anchorage gem show. “People were very interested,” she said. “The gems are cutting beautifully.”

Exploration crews using ground geophysics and surface prospecting discovered a large deposit of gold, copper, silver and palladium in the North Yenlo Hills in 1997.

In the years since then the couple and their children and grandchildren have walked thousands of miles exploring the regions’ deposits of precious stones and minerals.

In 2007, Diamond Gold Corp. filed a large-mine plan with Alaska Department of Natural Resources to mine the Sable placer and pipe. Phase I — placer mining lower Sable Creek gem gravels is now under way. And Phase II — pipe mining development is being conducted, which includes road access construction, additional core drilling and bulk sampling.

The gem field is 800 square miles and is transected north to south by two large alluvial systems — Kahiltna River and Lake Creek. The 2010-announced placer colored gemstone resource of the field is 375 million rough carats of colored gemstone and diamonds in approximately 75 million cubic yards of placer gem gravels.

The 2010 estimated value exceeds $6 billion and the estimated cut gem value of the field exceeds $30 billion.

“It’s a new industry for Alaska,” Ann said.

Exploration in the Yenlo area included a 270-foot test core drilled in 2006 that included two surface gold-rich quartz–arsenopyrite veins that will be mined in 2012, Ann said.

Now that the Ellises have identified the deposit, Ann said the next big hurdle is getting the estimated $750 million in capital needed to build Yenlo Mine.

Diamond Gold estimates it would employ more than 300 people year-round in good-paying jobs and add more than $75 million annually to the economy.

The two say they have openings now for a variety of jobs, including surface placer and hard rock miners, mechanics, road builders, gem stone pickers and sorters, stonecutters and polishers and in gold concentrate processing.

They say the mine has an estimated life of 15 years, during which 107 million tons of ore would be mined in the Yenlo Hills, 40 miles west of the Parks Highway in the Yentna Mining District.

Diamond Gold commissioned Alaska’s first opal mine in June 2009. The Kahiltna River mine has colored gemstone resources exceeding 200 million rough carats of opal, emerald, agate, jasper, sphene and zircon.

In the summer, the site is accessed via helicopter. In the winter, access is off Oil Well Road off Petersville Road. Ann said they have spent a lot of time and resources getting right of way to put in road access.

“Now we’re able to go mining,” she said.

For more information, contact 854-6082, alaskagems@diamondgoldcorp.com, or visit diamondgoldcorp.com.

Contact Heather A. Resz at heather.resz@frontiersman.com or 352-2268.