GoldMining has created a new US subsidiary focused on advancing its Whistler gold-copper project in Alaska.

The company's board of directors has approved a strategy to have U.S. GoldMining operated as a separate public company through an IPO or similar transaction.

Chairman Amir Adnani said it acquired the Whistler project in the summer of 2015, when spot gold was US$1,000 per oz, near the bottom of the last bear market.

"Today, with spot gold approaching US$2,000 per oz and copper price near a decade high, optimum market conditions exist to immediately unlock substantial value by creating U.S. GoldMining without dilution to GoldMining's capital structure," he said. 

The new subsidiary will have a dedicated team and experienced board of directors to advance the project.

"We're very encouraged by current attractive market valuations for Alaskan based resource stage gold and copper projects that supports a potential re-rating for the Whistler project as the flagship asset of U.S. GoldMining as a standalone company," he added.

"Our strategy with the creation of U.S. GoldMining is similar to the plan we successfully executed last year with Gold Royalty Corp., which today represents approximately C$100,000,000 in equity holdings on our balance sheet and includes a recently announced inaugural quarterly dividend of $0.01 per share, which would result in approximately C$1,000,000 of pre-tax dividend income to GoldMining on an annualised basis." 

CEO Alastair Still said by any standard, Whistler is a large project, with indicated resources of 3mn geo and inferred resources of 6.5mn geo covering an expansive regional land package. A base camp and gravel airstrip is established for field programs. 

"The last time Whistler saw drilling activity was almost a decade ago, which creates the opportunity to apply new regional geologic models and technical findings by GoldMining and neighboring companies to unlock value for Whistler, by a dedicated team following best practices with a dedication to safety, the environment and sustainable development for local communities," he said.

Whistler gold-copper project identifies at least three deposits

The Whistler Project is a gold-copper exploration project consisting of at least three known deposits located in the Yentna Mining District of Alaska, approximately 150km northwest of Anchorage and comprises 304 State of Alaska mining claims covering an aggregate area of approximately 17,000 hectares (approximately 42,000 acres).

The Whistler and Raintree West deposits are connected to the camp and airstrip by an access road and the Island Mountain deposit is located 23 km south of the camp and access is by helicopter.

The Whistler Project is underlain by a volcano-sedimentary sequence (Jura-Cretaceous Kahiltna Assemblage) that has been intruded by the Late Cretaceous Whistler Intrusive Suite with associated gold-copper porphyry and epithermal mineralization, and the Late Cretaceous to Paleocene Composite Intrusive Suite with associated intrusion-related gold mineralization.

A total of 70,247 m of diamond drilling in 257 holes has been completed on the Whistler Project by Cominco, Kennecott, Geoinformatics and Kiska from 1986 to the end of 2011. Of these drill holes, 21,132 m in 52 holes have been drilled in the Whistler Deposit area, 20,479 m in 94 holes have been drilled in the Raintree area and 14,410 m in 36 holes comprise the Island Mountain resource area. There are 14,226 m in 75 holes in areas outside of the three resource areas.

Preliminary metallurgical testing indicated that the material tested is amenable to copper recovery by flotation and that the gold is relatively free milling. Further metallurgical development and assessment work is warranted.