Brightstar Resources Limited (ASX: BTR) (Brightstar) is pleased to announce initial results from the Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling at the Fish deposit, part of the 293koz Au Jasper Hills Gold Project; with additional results from geotechnical diamond core drilling at the 303koz Au Cork Tree Well deposit also received.
HIGHLIGHTS
Further drill assays have been received from the Jasper Hills Gold Project, with numerous +20g/t Au intercepts returned from Reverse Circulation drilling at the Fish deposit, including:FHRCD2403:7m @ 9.50 g/t Au from 176m, including 1m @ 45.3 g/t Au from 177m, and2m @ 6.74 g/t Au from 195mFHRCD2420:8m @ 8.01 g/t Au from 180m, including 1m @ 36.4g/t Au from 186m, and4m @ 11.9 g/t Au from 259m, including 1m @ 37.4 g/t Au from 260mFHRCD2426:7m @ 5.80 g/t Au from 174m, including 1m @ 14.5 g/t Au from 175mFHRCD2404:4m @ 9.70 g/t Au from 274m, including 1m @ 30.2 g/t Au from 274mFHRCD2430:5m @ 6.54 g/t Au from 148m, including 1m @ 21.0g/t Au from 148mFHRCD2428:4m @ 3.14 g/t Au from 121mThese holes were targeting infill and extensional areas within and adjacent to the high- grade Fish orebody, with a Stage 1 Underground mine design1 generating high grade material from a simple operation <150m from the surfaceFish is expected to be a key contributor to early cash flows from development of the Jasper Hills Gold Project, with Brightstar’s scoping study1 outlining Stage 1 production of ~200kt @ 4.4g/t Au for +26koz within 14 months (all contained within M+I classification)Within the broader Laverton Gold Project, further assays from two geotechnical diamond holes from Cork Tree Well have been received with individual results to 5.59 g/t Au, including:CTWGT015:3.95m @ 1.25 g/t Au from 50.0m – 55.6m (incl. 1.65m of core loss), and2.0m @ 1.21 g/t Au from 100.0mCTWGT016:9.0m @ 0.77g/t Au from 93m, and 2.0m @ 0.94g/t Au from 69m.
Brightstar’s Managing Director, Alex Rovira, commented“The assays returned from Fish confirm the high-grade nature of the resource, with consistent mineralisation over several metres providing support for conventional underground mine designs and stoping widths at shallow depths. With the current Jasper Hills drilling program ending within a week2, on-going geological interpretations are being completed ahead of resource upgrades across the Brightstar portfolio, with our field team mobilising to conduct a RC program at the Montague East Gold Project in Sandstone in a months’ time.
While drilling at Jasper Hills, we also took the opportunity to process two Cork Tree Well geotechnical holes for gold assays, with pleasing results being returned given the focus of these holes were for gaining geotechnical data for open pit mining. CTWGT015 and CTWGT016 were drilled at the northernmost (Delta) deposit at Cork Tree Well in January 2023, within an optimised $2,750/oz pit shell generated during our 2023 Scoping Study3 for the broader Laverton Gold Project. The geotechnical information is being utilised by our mining consultants ahead of re- optimisations and the associated new pit designs for our Definitive Feasibility Study presently underway.
We look forward to sharing ongoing results as they are received, with assays still pending from Second Fortune (surface and underground DD drilling), Lady Shenton RC (Menzies), Cork Tree Well DD (Laverton), and both RC and diamond programs at Jasper Hills generating valuable information for Mineral Resource Estimate updates and various technical aspects of the DFS”.
TECHNICAL DISCUSSION
The Fish deposit ceased open-pit mining operations in 2012, with Crescent Gold Ltd mining 350kt at 3.83g/t Au from a single open pit and processed through the Granny Smith Processing Plant. Geological units observed in the Fish pit have been identified as amphibolite and intermediate intrusives, with felsic dykes, BIF interflow units and quartz veins also present within the pit.
Mineralisation in mined-out material was mainly hosted in BIF, which generally strikes and dips at 030/80E in what was a largely a linear and predictable fashion. This unit is described regionally as an interflow sediment with siliceous and magnetite banding. The hydrothermal deposit is somewhat polymetallic with trace to minor sulphides including pyrite, pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, pentlandite, galena, sphalerite and bornite.
Beyond the RC holes identified within this release, Brightstar completed an additional diamond program totalling seven diamond tails drilled from RC drillhole pre-collars, and one diamond hole drilled from surface. Assays remain outstanding for these diamond holes, with core currently being processed for geotechnical and metallurgical purposes in conjunction with geological logging and analysis to provide valuable information for Definitive Feasibility Study and mine planning purposes.
The goals of the combined RC/DD program were to infill and confirm the resource within and adjacent to the Stage 1 underground mine design, to generate sufficient mass for metallurgical testwork, and to test for depth extensions to mineralised lodes.