Drilling at Brightstar’s Second Fortune mine points to mine life extensions

BTR’s combined underground drilling program delivers +31g/t gold
All drilling intercepts provide confidence in mine life extension at Second Fortune
BTR will begin additional drilling immediately to update the resource

Special Report: Brightstar’s combined surface and underground drilling program has proven its Second Fortune vein system continues at depth, providing a compelling target to explore.

Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR) has achieved its desired outcome from drilling at the Second Fortune gold mine, delivering high-grades within and beneath the mine plan.

Both surface and underground programs set out to infill certain areas at the Second Fortune gold mine to increase confidence in the resource model, whilst also taking the opportunity to drill deeper holes.

And it’s a great time to be finding more gold.

Analysts continue to see a long-term price increase for bullion, with a recent BMI Commodity Insights report revising its forecast for gold to trade between US$2500-US$2800/oz in the coming months – a huge uptick from the US$1943/oz average seen last year due to US Fed rate cuts.

A weaker US dollar and lower bond yields have awakened a gold price rally, even after prices had risen persistently in the last few months.

Deepest drill hole returns +31g/t gold

The deepest hole drilled to date at Second Fortune has returned +31g/t gold from a 0.3m downhole intercept at 465.7m, proving that the high grade Second Fortune mineralisation continues at depths +400m below surface.

Drilling continues to highlight the high-grade and narrow-vein nature of the Second Fortune orebody, which has shown strong geological consistency over recent years of operational history, including surface hole assays such as:

0.57m at 21.3g/t gold from 426.55m
1.53m at 7.7g/t from 408.07m, including 0.41m at 17g/t gold from 408.89m; and
0.3m at 31.7g/t gold from 465.75m.

Underground results include:

0.6m at 14.7g/t gold from 87.2m
2.76m at 7.37g/t from 96.15m, including 0.33m at 52.37g/t from 96.15m; and
0.42m at 24.84g/t from 63.27m.

BTR says drilling intercepts are ~100m below currently developed areas on the 1065 level and provide significant confidence in mine life extension at Second Fortune.

Second Fortune already produced 13,000oz for Linden Gold last year, processed through Genesis Minerals’ nearby Gwalia processing plant, before the private explorer and miner was acquired by BTR this year.

The project carries very strong grades, with an underground measured indicated and inferred resource of 165,000t at 10.9g/t for 58,000oz of gold, the highest grade component of Brightstar’s 862,000oz Laverton portfolio and in deed its entire 2Moz bounty across WA’s Goldfields.

Expedited plans

“We are delighted with the results which successfully proved that the high-grade Second Fortune vein system continues at depths well below the current mine plan,” BTR managing director Alex Rovira said.

“This result provides a compelling target for Brightstar to explore further and extend the mine life at Second Fortune.

“Accordingly, we have expedited plans to complete further underground drilling to begin imminently, which will inform an upgraded mineral resource estimate this CY24 with the intent of potentially supporting the declaration of ore reserves and (a) formal production outlook.”

What’s on the horizon?

The drilling program targeted mining areas within and below the current 12-month mine plan in order to improve the classification of the mineral resource estimate.

Following the success of this program, BTR has started further underground drilling to further improve geological knowledge and confidence of CY25 production.

Meanwhile, the Menzies and Laverton projects are being advanced through definitive feasibility study workstreams currently underway, with potential near-term development of mining operations presently being assessed at the Jasper Hills (Laverton) and Link Zone (Menzies) deposits.

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.