Brightstar Resources has received positive results from the first significant drilling program in eight years at its Alpha West prospect near Laverton in the Goldfields region of Western Australia.
Assay highlights include a 5m hit going 9.8 grams per tonne gold from 98m whilst another hole recorded a 2m intercept at an impressive 11.3 g/t gold from 88m.
The company says there are significant high-grade intersections below the previously drilled anomalous material indicating potential for considerable growth down-plunge in a similar way to the main Alpha lode to the east.
A total of 12 holes were completed for 1260m drilled at Alpha West that is located 500m to the north-west of the Alpha ore body that has a JORC 2012-compliant resource of 1.4mt gold at 2.3g/t for 106,000 ounces of gold. However, Brightstar believes the latest positive results may contribute to a more robust JORC-compliant resource.
Brightstar Resources Managing Director, William Hobba said: “This first round of drilling shows potential for further extensions of this western zone of the project in an area that has not previously been mined. When combined with potential for growth of the main Alpha lode we are eager to discover the true scale of this mineralised system.”
The first significant drilling at the Alpha West site since 2014 was aimed at exploring the potential for developing a secondary pit in the area that the company says is significant for potential mining solutions of the larger resource at Alpha.
The proposed pit is aiming to allow secondary access for underground mining, improved trucking routes in addition to installation of other underground infrastructure.
Brightstar says more drilling will be required to grow the resource in addition to confirmatory holes to improve the quality of the resource in the eastern part of the system. However, it appears from the latest results that it may be possible to develop a larger scale mineralised system than has been previously recognised.
Drilling is also being planned to improve confidence in the current resource at the main Alpha deposit.
The operation is building a solid gold portfolio in the Goldfields region after it recently increased its gold inventory to 252,100 ounces at the company’s Cork Tree Well gold project as the explorer moves closer to potential production. The upgraded resource of 5.62 million tonnes at 1.4 grams per tonne gold represents an increase of 6 per cent or 15,100 ounces of gold on the previous estimate.
Classification of the Cork Tree Well resource has changed through the upgrade with the indicated category holding 1.76Mt at 1.67 g/t gold whilst the inferred category holds the remaining 3.85Mt at 1.27 g/t gold.
Brightstar Resources shares were up 37.5 per cent during intraday trading.
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By Matt Birney
