Brightstar Resources drilling intersects high-grade gold at the Pericles and Stirling deposits within its Menzies project
Assays indicate that mineralisation is still open at depth and support likelihood for an upgrade in resource classification
Further drilling at Pericles to occur once rigs complete work at the Laverton hub
Special Report: Brightstar Resources’ big push to grow and upgrade resources at its Menzies gold project is progressing well with drilling at the Pericles and Stirling deposits returning high-grade assays of up to 45.76g/t gold.
Notable intercepts from drilling at the two deposits, which are adjacent to the historical Lady Shenton open pit and target material within the 287,000oz Lady Shenton open pit mine plan of 1.9Mt at 1.6g/t gold (100,000oz contained gold) include the following from the Pericles and Lady Shenton deposits:
5m at 15.62g/t gold from 104m including 1m at 45.76g/t gold from 104m, and 2m at 10.96g/t gold from 115m (LSRC24049)
2m at 22.32g/t gold from 95m including 1m at 42.28g/t gold from 95m (LSRC24051); and,
7m at 4.94g/t gold from 115m including 1m at 27.82g/t gold, and 5m at 7.92g/t gold from 128m including 1m at 28.48g/t gold from 128m (LSRC24053).
Meanwhile, shallow intercepts from drilling at Stirling returned a top result of 2m grading 9.62g/t gold from just 4m (STRC24017).
The assays were returned from Brightstar Resources’ (ASX:BTR) giant 30,000m drill program that seeks to increase and upgrade resources at the 1.45Moz project in WA’s Eastern Goldfields region.
It adds to the shallow, high-grade intersections – topping up at 9m at 4.4g/t gold from 18m including 1m at 29.1g/t gold from 18m – that were returned from drilling at the Link Zone, confirming mineralisation within the targeted gold optimised pit shells at shallow depths across the Westralian Menzies, Merriyulah and Golden Dicks deposits.
Drilling is funded by a $6.5m cash injection from small-scale gold production via its Selkirk JV with BML Ventures and the recent placement to strategic investors including St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) and institutions such as Collins Street Asset Management and Lion Selection Group (ASX: LSX), which raised $12m.
More high-grade gold hits
The assays were returned from 26 holes completed at the Pericles deposit, eight holes at the Lady Shenton open pit ramp and 18 holes at the Stirling deposit.
At Stirling, the holes were designed to infill knowledge gaps in the drilling data to provide additional information for future resource/confidence upgrades.
Selected holes drilled below the currently optimised pit shell to test for repeated mineralised lodes at depth encountered significant mineralisation.
Over at Pericles, the 26 holes were also designed to infill knowledge gaps in previous drilling towards in order to increase confidence classification of the current resource.
Prioritised holes drilled in this program were selected to provide material for ongoing metallurgical test work, while remaining planned holes are also based upon infilling to build confidence in the resource post drilling at the Laverton Hub.
Meanwhile, drilling at the Lady Shenton ramp returned significant mineralisation corresponding to the current resource model with results potentially upgrading the resource classification ahead of further studies.
Lady Shenton system drill holes. Pic: Brightstar Resources
“These results from the Lady Shenton system highlight the immense potential that Menzies holds,” managing director Alex Rovira said.
“With numerous high-grade hits in all three deposits at Pericles, Lady Shenton and Stirling indicating mineralisation is still open at depth, we look forward to completing the program once high priority drilling is completed at the Laverton Hub.
“We’ve taken the opportunity to bring on a third rig, with two RC rigs presently at Jasper Hills drilling out the Fish and Lord Byron deposits, whilst the diamond rig is maintaining good progress and accuracy with the ‘diamond tails’ being drilled at depth at the Second Fortune mine.
“These programs will generate valuable information for our feasibility studies and ongoing mine plans, which will be utilised for geotechnical, metallurgical and mine planning purposes at our Menzies and Laverton hubs.”
Next steps
The rigs are currently drilling at the Laverton hub with the reverse circulation rigs working the Lord Byron deposit while the diamond rig is at the Second Fortune Gold mine.
Post completion of drilling within the Laverton Hub, the RC rig will return to Menzies to complete the outstanding holes and conduct exploration RC drilling in the area.
A further 36 RC holes are planned for future drilling in the coming weeks at Pericles.
Drilling is being carried out ahead of feasibility study workstreams in preparation for mining activities in CY2025.
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.
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