- Maiden drilling at the Haunted Stream project has intersected two separate gold systems
- Mineralisation is open at depth and commands the potential to host a large-scale gold deposit
- FAU is just ‘beginning to scratch the surface’ with planning for future exploration under way
First Au’s maiden drilling program at the flagship Haunted Stream project in Victoria has identified a new gold system, comprising two distinct zones which remain open at depth and along strike.
The Haunted Stream project is situated in East Gippsland – about 340km east of Melbourne – a region which dominated Victorian gold production during the end of the 1800s and early 1900s.
While the project contains more than 150 historical workings which extend over a strike length of 8.5km, the area has not received any modern exploration.
FAU (ASX:FAU) believes the project has the potential to be of significant scale with latest drilling results from the first nine holes confirming the presence of an extensive near-surface gold mineralisation system >110m vertical.
These latest assays include 10.7m at 3.05 g/t gold from 93.7m, including 2.5m at 8.32 g/t gold from 93.7m and 3.15m at 2.55 g/t gold from 112.45, as well as 18.5m at 1.81 g/t gold from 67.5m, including 9.8m at 2.45 g/t gold from 86m and 2.7m at 6.71 g/t gold from 87.4m.
‘Major success’
According to FAU MD Ryan Skeen, the drilling program – where 11 holes for 1,083m have been completed – was a major success.
“The geological model developed in earlier exploration has proven to be accurate and robust, and the results validate the work we have undertaken across the project to date,” he explains.
“These assays confirm the potential of our Haunted Stream project and its ability to deliver a large-scale deposit.
“FAU is only beginning to scratch the surface of the potential of Haunted Stream which has 8.5km of strike based on historical workings and is excited about future exploration across the project.”
These new results have demonstrated the persistence of mineralisation at depth below the first two holes which produced results of 12.9m at 3.57g/t gold and 11.1m at 2.65 g/t gold with evidence of higher-grade veins >1oz gold.
What’s next?
Future exploration at Haunted Stream includes testing the depth extent of the newly discovered gold system and testing the adjacent gold mineralisation intersected in holes ERN008B, ERN010 and ERN011.
Other activities will involve testing the ground beneath Lone Hand, drill testing Excelsior, and drill targeting the ground at the Hibernia deposit as well as Rob Roy.
This article was developed in collaboration with First Au, 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.
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