Firetail appoints veteran explorer as CEO to lead York Harbour copper exploration

Firetail Resources appoints former Greenstone Resources technical director and chief geologist Glenn Poole as its CEO
Poole has a proven track record in developing and rejuvenating mineral assets including the Coolgardie gold and Norseman base metal projects
He will develop maiden exploration plans for the York Harbour copper-zinc-silver project that the company is acquiring

Special Report: Firetail Resources has appointed veteran exploration and mining geologist Glenn Poole as its chief executive officer to accelerate exploration and development of the York Harbour copper-zinc-silver project.

Firetail Resources (ASX:FTL) had just last month signed a binding option to acquire up to 80% of the project in Newfoundland, Canada.

The 47km2 York Harbour project is a ‘Cyprus-type’ volcanogenic massive sulphide copper exploration play that hosts the historical high-grade copper mine of the same name.

This mine was discovered in 1897 and produced 100,000t of ore from underground, with grades of between 3-12% copper, 7% zinc and 1-3oz/t silver.

There’s plenty of activity occurring within the western Newfoundland region with projects such as FireFly Metals’ (ASX:FFM) Green Bay copper project and Little Deer copper-gold complex, Calibre Mining’s (TSX:CXB) Valentine and Matador Mining’s (ASX:MZZ) gold projects kicking things along.

While recent exploration has been limited to shallow drill holes around the historical workings, these did return exceptional copper intersections such as 29m grading 5.25% and 9g/t silver from 147m – including 3.24m at 9.54% copper, 3.5% zinc and 10g/t silver from 167.8m – and 22.56m at 4.34% copper from 68.88m.

These serve to de-risk the project considerably and indicate the potential present in the 11 identified and partially drill-tested VMS deposits as well as several more reported VMS occurrences elsewhere on the property.

Exploration muscle

FTL is understandably keen to get to grips with York Harbour and is tapping the skills and expertise that Poole brings to the company as its chief executive officer to unlock its potential.

Poole, who will start in his new position on 8 July 2024, is a technical geologist with a proven track record in developing and rejuvenating mineral assets with numerous ASX listed companies.

He was most recently the technical director and chief geologist at Greenstone Resources (ASX:GSR) prior to its merger with Horizon Minerals (ASX:HRZ).

During his tenure at GSR, he delivered significant increases in resources to the Coolgardie gold and Norseman base metal projects.

Poole was also technical lead for Firefly Resources and developed the maiden resources for the Yalgoo project prior to the company’s merger with Spartan Resources (ASX:SPR).

He also held senior positions within Northern Star (ASX:NST) and Superior Gold (TSXV).

In the lead role at FTL, Poole will be responsible for planning the maiden exploration campaign at York Harbour. This will include:

First property wide EM Survey to be conducted at York Harbour (estimated August)
Property wide LiDAR Survey (estimated August)
Field based reconnaissance mapping and sampling (estimate August to September)
Review of recent and historical drill core (underway); and,
Planning of initial drill program (estimate August/September), including submission of plan to expand current permitted drilling locations.

“It is an honour and pleasure to have the support of the board in assuming the role of CEO within the Firetail team. The existing asset base, along with the pending York Harbour acquisition is an enviable portfolio of future facing metals, located in some of the best operating jurisdictions,” Poole said.

“These assets, backed by a highly regarded board and technical support team, provide a robust platform to unlock significant potential for the company and generate value for shareholders.

“I look forward to expediting the exploration efforts across the York Harbour Project. York Harbour has both existing substantial drill intercepts requiring follow up, and large scale prospectivity which has never been evaluated.

“These high impact programs are only the first steps in the process that l will lead to unlock the potential of this project and wider portfolio.”

Executive chairman Brett Grosvenor added that Poole’s technical and management expertise will complement the company’s strong portfolio of assets.

This article was developed in collaboration with Firetail 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.