In a move that signals a swift transition from a newly-minted ASX-lister to an active explorer, Elk Range Mining is set to start a maiden 2850-metre diamond drilling campaign at its Friday gold mine in Idaho in the United States. The company completed a successful and significantly oversubscribed Initial Public Offering raising $10 million at 20-cents a pop, with Inyati and Bank of Montreal (Euroz) acting as brokers to the issue.
The company has inked a drilling agreement with Black Cloud Drilling, clearing the path for an initial eight-hole program designed to get a handle on the historical high-grade gold mineralisation at the project and test the system’s potential both at depth and along strike.
The project comes with an extensive historical drilling database which points to a significant high-grade gold system. While not yet JORC-compliant, a foreign resource estimate for Friday outlined 758,000 tonnes grading an impressive 5.91 grams per tonne gold (g/t) for 144,000 ounces.
A quick scan of the historical drill results shows why Elk Range is keen to get the drill rods turning. Previous intercepts include a stunning 110.3-metre-wide hit running at 5.34g/t gold from just 26.7m. The dataset also includes results of 54.1m at 5.62g/t gold from 237.7m, 31.7m at 7.80g/t gold from 232.3m and 134.6m at 2.52g/t gold from 223.4m.
The company says the maiden campaign has three key objectives, to validate those historical high-grade gold numbers by twinning and extending previous drillholes, to improve the geological confidence on the path towards a potential future JORC-compliant mineral resource and to test the mineralised system beyond the areas that were historically drilled.
Executing the drilling agreement is an important step in Elk Range’s transition from listing to active exploration at Friday. The initial eight-hole program has been designed to validate historical high-grade mineralisation, improve our understanding of the mineralised system and test its potential at depth and along strike. Friday provides us with a compelling brownfields opportunity. Existing underground development, processing infrastructure and established site facilities allow us to focus our exploration capital on drilling and geological understanding.
What gives the company a significant leg up is the project’s brownfields status. The Friday mine comes complete with existing underground development and established site infrastructure including roads and power. The district scale Idaho gold project also includes the 50,000 tonne per annum Orogrande processing plant and the Buffalo Gulch and Deadwood projects which each host substantial gold systems and add size to the company’s ambitions.
It’s a compelling advantage that allows a junior explorer to sidestep the usual time and capital-intensive preliminary work of establishing site access and facilities. Instead, Elk Range can channel its exploration dollars directly into the ground through drilling and geological work.
Elk Range’s preparations for the three-month campaign are well advanced. It has established drill pads, engaged experienced personnel and core-processing facilities are in place. The company has also hired a Nevada-based laboratory with PhotonAssay capability to handle the samples.
Notably, the drilling will be undertaken on patented mining claims, which the company says smooths the way for an efficient mobilisation and start to the program. The initial eight-hole campaign is slated for 2850m however, the company has already identified two additional holes that might be drilled subject to the results of the initial program.
Significantly, the ground Elk Range is set to dive into is well-known for its rich mineral endowment. Roughly 150 kilometres south lies the Stibnite gold project, owned by Perpetua Resources. Stibnite is one of the most high-profile and strategically significant mining developments in the United States, holding an estimated 4.8 million ounces of gold along with the country’s only major domestic reserve of the critical mineral, antimony.
Elk Range says projects like this demonstrate the region is more than capable of hosting deposits of size and the Orogrande shear zone has the potential to host multi-million-ounce gold systems.
The company says the campaign is expected to take three months with any material assay results reported as they come to hand. Based on the results, it will evaluate surface and underground drilling opportunities for a proposed second 3000 metre drilling program.
For Elk Range, having only just hit the ASX boards, getting the drill rods spinning so quickly is an impressive first shot out of the gun. With the considerable head-start afforded by existing infrastructure at a historical mine site, no doubt punters will be watching keenly for results from this Idaho gold play to start rolling in over the coming months.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au
