Brightstar gets spinning for gold at promising Montague project

Brightstar has a ~6000m RC drilling program underway at Montague
The rig will then move across to complete drilling at Alto’s Sandstone project
The program will take about four weeks to complete, with assays due shortly from the Fish and Lord Byron diamond drilling

Special Report: Brightstar’s exploration focus has shifted towards the company’s Murchison assets, 70km north of Sandstone, targeting the largest two deposits within the Montague East gold project.

Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR), headed up by geologist and former Canaccord Genuity investment banker Alex Rovira, is a rising contender in the Western Australian gold space with its recently acquired Montague asset ticking a lot of boxes.

In early August, BTR made a huge announcement revealing its merger with Alto Metals (ASX:AME) and the $14m acquisition of Gateway Mining’s (ASX:GML) Montague project, which takes the company’s resource base from 2Moz to 3Moz.

“This is the largest gold resource endowment of any junior explorer or developer on the ASX outside of De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG),” Rovira told the South-West Connect ASX Showcase in Busselton last month.

“In the Eastern Goldfields, we’ve got the largest resource that isn’t currently a mid-tier producer.”

Inaugural drilling kicks off

And that resource could get a whole lot bigger with inaugural drilling underway.

BTR believes the two largest deposits, Montague-Boulder and Whistler, have a strong probability for resource growth with drilling programs targeting lode extensions at depth.

The program will also infill key areas to provide additional geological information on the deposits to increase mineral resource classification confidence.

+500,000oz gold endowment

“With the recent completion of our significant drilling programs across our Goldfields assets in Menzies and Laverton, our exploration efforts are now focused on the Murchison assets located in the Sandstone region,” Rovira said.

“We look forward to targeting the largest two deposits at Montague, which boasts a +500,000oz gold endowment.

“With a past production of ~150,000oz, the Montague East Gold Project is a key part of our Sandstone consolidation strategy and our broader aspirations of building a multi-asset and meaningful WA gold mining business.”

RC drill rig at Whistler. Pic: Brightstar Resources

What’s ahead?

The program will take about four weeks to complete, before mobilising the drill rig to carry out a planned drilling program at Alto’s Sandstone project upon the anticipated merger completion in December.

BTR is due to announce drilling information and assays as this is received, including the outstanding results from the Fish and Lord Byron diamond drilling programs along with RC drilling from the Montague program.

Concurrently with these drilling programs work continues on the definitive feasibility study and near-term development of mining operations at the Jasper Hills deposit.

This article was developed in collaboration with Brightstar Resources, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.