FAIRBANKS, Alaska—
A newly discovered deposit at the Pogo mine in the Interior contains at least 1.2 million ounces of gold, a find that company officials believe will extend the life of the project by more than two years.General manager Chris Kennedy says exploratory drilling conducted so far hasn't reached the bottom of the deposit and that upcoming efforts are planned to find its boundaries.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports (http://bit.ly/IKfgXc) an exploration program will continue this summer and likely into 2013.
Kennedy says the deposit could extend out roughly another half-mile, making the current find just a small portion of a much more significant discovery.
Pogo had previously planned to continue its mining operations until 2017, but the new find stretches that timeline out to at least 2019.
