Nov. 2--Two longtime mineral prospectors known in Alaska mining have joined forces in a start-up junior exploration company that focused in 2008 on the Seward Peninsula.

Millrock Resources Inc. drilled two separate gold prospects on the Seward Peninsula this summer, spending just over $2 million on the company's 2008 exploration efforts.

Leading the exploration effort for Millrock is Gregory Beischer, president and chief executive officer, who most recently worked for Bristol Bay Native Corp., after spending 20 years with mining giant Inco.

Joining him is Phil St. George, another exploration geologist with substantial work experience with mining giant Cominco. St. George also worked for NovaGold Resources during its formative years and is credited with discovery of the initial Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum deposit in Southwest Alaska in the late 1980s.

"When we started up the business, it came on the market at 38 cents (a share) and things were great the first few months, but it's been a bit of a struggle lately," Beischer said. "Phil and I are a great teamewe have great people working for us and the company is in reasonably good shape even though our share price has declined substantially over the last three months in particular."

Venture capital financing for junior exploration companies has dried up, he said, since Millrock closed a financing arrangement in May, providing the company with funds for this year's work.

"We didn't spend it all, although it was tempting, because we were having good success, but we stuck to our guns," Beischer said. "We've got enough to hold on and survive and if it's not too protracted of a downturn, we'll still be in business next year."

The two geologists oversaw work this summer on several prospects throughout Alaska, including reconnaissance work on a high-grade gold prospect in the Alaska Range, called Estelle, and the 40-Mile prospect in eastern Interior Alaska.

But it was two separate gold projects on the Seward Peninsula that commanded the bulk of the company's exploration spending for 2008. As of mid-October, the company was still waiting for final assay reports from drilling work completed in August on both the Divide and Bluff properties, Beischer said.

Both gold prospects are located close enough to Rock Creek, in Nome, to potentially become satellite mines if geologists find enough mineralization in high-enough grades to cover trucking costs.

Divide is located north of Rock Creek, about 20 miles straight-line distance from the recently commissioned hard-rock mill, Beischer said.