Brightstar (ASX:BTR) uncorks high-grade Laverton gold
February 13, 2024Brightstar Resources’ first diamond holes into Cork Tree Well have struck visible gold and returned numerous high-grade gold assays up to 172.41 grams per tonne gold from within its greater Laverton Gold Project in Western Australia.
One hole into the new Delta deposit returned a highlight 34.4 metre at 7.94g/t Au from 43.5m, while another beneath Cork Tree Well’s historic open pit returned 6.5m at 1.42g/t Au from 104m and 1.65m at 1.82g/t Au from 112m.
Brightstar Managing Director Alex Rovira said the company’s understanding of the geological model and mineralisation styles it had defined by more than 28km of drilling was being enhanced by an ongoing 2000 metre-plus campaign.
“We have reinforced our view that the gold mineralisation at Cork Tree Well is structurally hosted, with a mafic metadolerite host rock observed in CTWMET004 at Delta, whilst gold mineralisation returned in CTWMET002 is positioned within a chert-breccia horizon in the sedimentary package underneath the shallow historically mined open pit,” Mr Rovira said.
“Due to the high grades returned, several re-assays were completed to cross-check the veracity of the initial result in certain cases, with multiple high-grade re-assays and visible gold supporting a coarse-grained nuggety gold mineralisation model at Delta.”
Mr Rovira added that in order to provide sufficient rock mass for metallurgy across all oxidation states at Delta, the hole was drilled sub-parallel to the ore body.
He noted that importantly, the deposit remains open at depth, with a 31m at 2.12g/t intercept from the deepest nearby hole highlighting the immense potential for high-grade depth extensions.
“Given the inaugural diamond drilling results thus far, we remain of the view that we’ve barely scratched the surface at Cork Tree Well, with strong potential to build on the existing 303koz @ 1.4g/t Au Mineral Resource both at depth with high-grade plunging shoots and strike extensions targeting the structurally controlled mineralised trends across geological units,” he said.
Two more diamond holes have been expedited, and Mr Rovira said the quartet will be the metallurgical basis within an upcoming Pre-Feasibility study, envisaging the broader project forming the baseload ore to its fully owned processing plant 30 kilometres south of Laverton.
Brightstar production
Brightstar expect to return the formerly operating mine site at Cork Tree Well to production and has accumulated over 1.3 million ounces within 60 kilometres of its namesake plant.
The explorer turned into a miner with first ore from the Menzies Project, coming into an ascendant gold market ahead of schedule and production targets.
The miner raised $5 million to accelerate exploration and the Pre-Feasibility Study for Cork Tree Well and has begun early-stage engagements for toll-treating material from Menzies with an eye towards first cash flow.
Evolution Capital put a significantly higher share price target on BTR for a cheap and quick pathway toward production, and while the current acquisition buzz is around Leonora, it could pay well to be a producer in one of Australia’s premium gold districts.
The Laverton and Menzies gold projects.
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