Elk Range Mining (ASX:ELK) reports gold beyond historical hole at Friday
Elk Range Mining has reported that its maiden diamond drill hole at the Friday Gold Project in Idaho returned a mineralised envelope of 290.3 m at 2.8 g/t gold from 18.7 m.
Mineralisation continued approximately 170 m downhole beyond the end of a parallel historical hole.
Highlights
Hole 26FRD001 returned 89.6 m at 5.5 g/t gold from 76.6 m, including 37.1 m at 8.3 g/t from 129.1 m.
The 37.1 m interval included 11.3 m at 21.4 g/t from 137.2 m, immediately below the end of the historical hole.
Drilling is continuing from the second pad, with core from 26FRD002 and 26FRD003 to be submitted to the laboratory.
Elk Range says it is fully funded to complete the Phase 1 program following its $10m initial public offering.
Elk Range drilled 26FRD001 along the interpreted shear zone to test the continuity, distribution and structural controls of gold mineralisation.
All reported intervals are downhole lengths and do not represent true widths, which have not been estimated.
The broader mineralised envelope includes 14% internal dilution.
The hole was collared approximately 8 m from historical hole PFR2014_06 and drilled parallel to it through the historically reported mineralised interval.
It reached a final depth of 336.8 m, continuing a further 200 m beyond the historical end of hole into an area of limited previous drilling.
PFR2014_06 ended at 137.16 m and was historically reported as returning 112.78 m at 5.22 g/t gold from 24.38 m.
Below that depth, the new hole continued in mineralisation to 308.91 m downhole, returning 12.7 m at 4.5 g/t from 177.2 m, including 10.0 m at 5.5 g/t.
The results also included 51.8 m at 2.6 g/t gold from 216.4 m, including 22.4 m at 5.1 g/t from 228.0 m, and 35.8 m at 0.8 g/t from 273.1 m.
At Friday, gold is typically hosted in structurally deformed metasediment near a sheared quartz monzonite contact.
Geological logging identified continuous shearing and hydrothermal alteration throughout the hole.
Elk Range Chief executive officer Edward Keys said:
“For the first time at Friday we have oriented core, and it's showing us how the high-grade gold is aligned.”
The company is integrating structural measurements with the assay results to refine targeting of the remaining Phase 1 holes.
Historical drilling at Friday totals 386 holes for more than 44,200 m and defined a body of mineralisation extending approximately 430 m along strike and approximately 43 to 55 m across strike.
At the second pad, 26FRD002 reached approximately 151 m of a planned 366 m before drilling was paused because of mechanical issues.
The rig moved to 26FRD003, which was at approximately 125 m of a planned 396 m when the announcement was released, with drilling of 26FRD002 to resume once 26FRD003 is complete.
Core drilled to date from both holes is due to be submitted to Paragon Laboratories, with assay results expected approximately 4 weeks after delivery, in late November, while results from the resampling of PFR2014_06 are also pending.
The remaining Phase 1 holes are designed to test the system along strike and at depth.
Elk Range also plans to evaluate contingent holes and potential underground drilling based on results, and to integrate new and historical data towards a maiden JORC compliant Mineral Resource for Friday.