Surefire hits bullseye with wide, high-grade gold in Yidby maiden drilling

Special Report: First drilling at Surefire’s Yidby gold project in WA is already proving the junior explorer could be onto something big and high-grade.

Surefire Resources (ASX:SRN) only acquired the Yidby project three months ago, has already completed 1687m of maiden drilling and has received the results from the first eight holes.

And the results are better than the company could have hoped for – wide zones of mineralisation that include high-grade sections close to surface and that are better than historic drilling results.

The first eight of 20 holes returned top hits like 56m at 1.97 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 44m, including 4m at 14.47g/t from 76m; and 40m at 3.01g/t from 24m, including 4m at 26.57g/t from 52m.

To put that into context, anything above 5g/t is generally considered high-grade, but even at the current high gold price, grades of 1-2g/t can also be economic, particularly if the mineralisation is hosted within wide zones close to surface.

RC drill chips from hole YBRC008 showing intersection of 40m at 3.01g/t, including 4m at 26.57g/t. Pic: Supplied.

The Yidby project spans 113.77sqkm of prospective greenstone terrain within the extremely fertile Yalgoo-Singleton Greenstone Belt.

Managing director Vladimir Nikolaenko said Surefire was in the right neighbourhood, with the Yidby project surrounded by several major mines or deposits.

“The project is located 40km from the mining centre of Payne’s Find (71,000oz) and is surrounded by major mines and deposits such as Golden Grove, Mt Gibson (87,000oz), Rothsay (485,000oz), Kirkalocka (1 million oz) and Minjar (1.1 million oz),” he said.

“The Yidby gold project is right in the middle of these other major deposits or mines. We’re in the right neighbourhood for making the next major discovery.”

Yidby project regional location. Pic: Supplied.

The Mount Gibson gold project and the Rothsay gold project sit 30km to the south and 30km to the west respectively.

The +1.1 million oz Minjar gold project is located 65km to the northeast along the Singleton-Yalgoo Greenstone Belt, while the million oz Kirkalocka gold project is about 70km to the northeast and the Paynes Find Mining Centre is 40km along the Great Northern Highway.

The project is centred over several clusters of historic workings that targeted high-grade

gold bearing quartz veins.

The three main targets are the Yidby Road, Delaney Well and Cashen’s Find prospects, all of which recorded significant high-grade gold intersections from historic drilling campaigns.

Historic drilling at Yidby Road returned intersections of 37m at 1.57g/t from 25m; 8m at 2.57g/t from 109m; 15m at 2.02g/t from 62m; and 5m at 13.1g/t from 90m.

Past drilling at Delaney Well delivered intercepts of 8m at 4.69g/t gold, including 2m at 17.7g/t from just 22m, while Cashen’s Find produced historic hits of 6m at 3g/t from 15m.

Potential company-making discovery

This past drilling, initially by Normandy Exploration in 1996-1998 and then by Monarch Gold Mining Company in 2006, intercepted a mineralised porphyry.

Porphyry deposits can be multi-generational company makers with easy-mining large volumes making up for their lower grades.

And there is plenty of exploration upside, with no drilling having been undertaken at the Yidby project in the last 14 years.

The promising historic results of the Yidby project prompted Surefire to fast-track maiden drilling, with the results from the remaining 12 holes expected in the coming weeks.

Surefire was aiming to replicate the historic results, but the company’s initial drilling returned much wider and higher-grade intersections than the past drilling.

The mineralisation is also open along strike and down dip of the shallow intersections.

RC Drilling intercepts at Yidby road Prospect on magnetic image. Pic: Supplied.

The mineralised felsic porphyry intrusions are what hosts the mineralisation at Surefire’s nearby Cashen’s Find and Delaney Well prospects, where historic drilling delivered significant gold intercepts.

This article was developed in collaboration with Surefire 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.