Brightstar Resources Limited (ASX: BTR) (Brightstar) is pleased to announce further results from the RC infill drilling at the Lord Byron deposit, part of the 293koz Au Jasper Hills Gold Project. The program was completed to infill the existing mineral resource and increase confidence in the geological interpretation, prior to a planned update to the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE). A concurrent diamond drilling program is almost complete, providing important geotechnical and metallurgical data, as well as crucial structural and geological information to aid the company’s growing understanding of the deposit.
HIGHLIGHTS
The remaining assay results have been received from the ~8,000m Lord Byron infill RC drilling program at the Jasper Hills Gold ProjectThe results returned wide zones of gold mineralisation that contain internal sections of high-grade. Intercepts returned at Lord Byron include:LBRC24049:26m @ 2.69 g/t Au from 120m, including 3m @ 12.4 g/t from 123m, and8m @ 3.48 g/t from 28mLBRC24017:28m @ 2.77 g/t Au from 153m, including 6m @ 6.00 g/t from 172mLBRC24012:29m @ 2.62 g/t Au from 160m, including 1m @ 35.7 g/t from 184mLBRC24013:30m @ 1.97 g/t Au from 143m, including 13m @ 3.18 g/t from 143mLBRC24051:23m @ 2.24 g/t Au from 67m, including 5m @ 7.03g/t from 83mLBRC24011:16m @ 2.01 g/t Au from 140mLBRC24048:1m @ 22.2 g/t Au from 121m, and7m @ 3.32 g/t Au from 132m, and24m @ 1.04 g/t Au from 144mLBRC24047:10m @ 2.31 g/t Au from 109m, and10m @ 1.01 g/t Au from 132mThe program forms part of a Reverse Circulation (RC) and Diamond (DD) drill-out at Jasper Hills, which was designed to increase the resource confidence, improve geological understanding and provide geotechnical and metallurgical data.Assays for an additional 7 completed diamond holes are still pending. The diamond rig is currently on site at Lord Byron completing the final 6 diamond tails, drilled as extensions to RC pre-collar holes.The RC drilling rig is currently finishing the drilling program at the Menzies Gold Project, which is expected to complete in the coming days.
Brightstar’s Managing Director, Alex Rovira, commented“These new Lord Byron assays are particularly exciting. The results have shown the wide intervals of great, open pit mineable gold grades, but also contain discrete zones of high-grade, including in some of the deeper holes, at the base of a A$3,000/oz Au optimised pit shell. These highly encouraging results will feed into updated development studies at the deposit, as outlined in the recent Jasper Hills Scoping Study1.
With successful RC programs now complete at Fish and Lord Byron, the Jasper Hills project is rapidly advancing. Once the RC assays are received from the Fish deposit, attention will turn to geotechnical and metallurgical testwork utilising the diamond core material produced from the drilling program concluding in the coming weeks.
With the current drilling program ending and both rigs soon demobilising, a short drilling break will allow assays to be returned and geological interpretations to be updated, prior to resource updates across the projects. Drilling will then restart, with a large program being planned at the company’s exciting new Sandstone assets set to commence once those transactions complete.
TECHNICAL DISCUSSION
The Lord Byron deposit consists of a ‘Main Zone” of mineralisation associated with the northwest-trending Bicentennial Shear Zone. This 100m-wide zone of shearing hosts the bulk of the mineralisation at the deposit. Additional mineralisation is also present in supergene lodes, and as primary gold in banded iron units (BIF) that have been deflected and truncated by the Bicentennial Shear. The RC drilling program at the Lord Byron totals 54 drill holes for ~8,000m of drilling, with all assays now returned.
An additional diamond program is ongoing, totalling 13 holes for 1,700m (including 7 diamond ‘tails’ drilled as extensions to existing RC drillhole pre-collars). Assays remain outstanding for all diamond holes, with 6 short diamond tails remaining to drill to complete the program.
The purpose of this combined RC and DD program was to infill the resource within optimised open pit shells, provide material for metallurgical and geotechnical assessment, facilitate an upgrade of the MRE to indicated or better classification, and potentially delineate Ore Reserves in conjunction with the Definitive Feasibility Study.
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