Brightstar’s high-grade gold hits “scratching the surface” of Sandstone potential

• Brightstar Resources’ exploration drilling strikes more high-grade gold at the Sandstone Hub
• Results to help grow Havilah resource and outline potential of the early-stage Hacks West and Bulchina targets
• Company has completed extensional drilling at depth at Musketeer and is moving to test Lords Corridor

Special Report: Brightstar Resources’ early-stage drilling to grow resources at its Sandstone Hub in WA’s East Murchison region is proceeding as planned with assays returning significant results from all tested prospects.

The reverse circulation drilling is part of an ongoing +80,000m infill and extensional drill program at the project, which has a resource of 1.5Moz at an average grade of 1.5g/t gold.

Notable assays from Brightstar Resources’ (ASX:BTR) drilling to date include 1m grading 38.3g/t gold from a down-hole depth of 46m at Hacks West and 4m at 17.4g/t gold from 110m at Havilah.

The results come as the company moves to de-risk and potentially accelerate development of Sandstone by acquiring Aurumin (ASX:AUN) to consolidate tenements in the Central Sandstone region.

A successful acquisition will increase its total resources in the overlooked gold field to 2.4Moz at an average grade of 1.5g/t on granted mining licences while providing greater certainty for the development of new infrastructure in the region and unlock exploration synergies.

“We’re hugely encouraged by these latest results from the Sandstone Hub,” managing director Alex Rovira said.

“Alongside our substantial infill drilling programs, we have also been systematically testing some of the high-priority exploration targets at the project, an approach fully justified by the results from the three early-stage prospects reported here.

“Of the three, Havilah is by far the most advanced, and these drilling results will be included in the next MRE update at the deposit.

“Hacks West and Bulchina are at a much earlier stage but intersecting high grades in first-pass drilling suggests the prospects have genuine potential to develop into substantial assets.

“We firmly believe we are only scratching the surface of the immense exploration potential at our Sandstone Hub.”

BTR’s ongoing drilling at Sandstone recently highlighted the large, bulk tonnage gold potential of the Bull Oak camp.

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Drill results

The latest drilling consisted of extensional RC drilling at Havilah deposit, early-stage exploration drilling at Hacks West and first-pass drilling at Bulchina.

At Havilah, the drilling further tested the down-plunge extension of a previously reported intercept of 3m at 11.4g/t from 129m (HVRC25001) outside the current resource of 1.2Mt at 1.3g/t for 54,000oz contained gold.

The latest results are 4m at 17.4g/t gold from 110m including 1m at 61.2g/t from 111m (HVRC25008) and 3m at 4.12g/t from 157m (HVRC25007), confirming the continuity of the original intercept.

Drilling at Hacks West, which is 2km west of the historical Hacks mine that produced ~200,000oz at 24g/t gold, tested for mineralisation below and in close proximity to shallow historical workings.

The results, which included the 1m intersection at 38.3g/t from 46m, highlight the presence of significant shallow high-grade gold mineralisation, which remains open along strike and at depth.

Meanwhile, holes at Bulchina on the western limb of the Sandstone Greenstone Belt were drilled to follow up significant gold intersected in shallow historical drilling along strike to the south of Bulchina deposit, which produced 230,000oz gold at 3.62g/t.

This returned assays such as 11m at 2.26g/t gold from 109m including 1m at 10.3g/t from 116m (BCRC25001), 3m at 4.74g/t from 99m (BCRC25002) and 8m at 2.52g/t from 46m (BCRC25008).

Results from this limited program confirmed the significant historical results and demonstrated that the high-grade mineralisation remains open with hole BCRC25008 being 4km south of the Bulchina mine.

Next steps

BTR is continuing rapid exploration across its Laverton, Menzies and Sandstone hubs to grow the size and quality of its resources.

Surface diamond drilling has started at the Fish deposit (Laverton Hub) with underground diamond drilling to follow while an RC rig has moved to Menzies to complete the second phase of RC drilling at Yunndaga deposit.

RC drilling continues within the Sandstone Hub, with the rig at the Musketeer deposit completing extensional drilling at depth outside the mineral resource, prior to moving to the Lords Corridor prospect for exploration drilling.

The company is also planning further work at Havilah, Hacks West and Bulchina.

At Havilah, Rovira said significant follow up programs would be planned to fully delineate the high-grade shoots.

Upcoming drilling will target infill and extensions to the high-grade mineralisation, prior to future mineral resource updates.

BTR is planning a second phase of drilling at Hacks West to delineate the extent of the structures and improve geological understanding while a large-scale gravity survey is underway to help understand the stratigraphy and generate new targets.

Finally, further drilling is planned at Bulchina to follow up on the latest results and test other priority targets within the area, which is an early-stage prospect that has the potential to host high-grade mineralisation like the historical Bulchina mine area.

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.