Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits looks at notable drill hits recently reported to the ASX last week, led by Brightstar Resources and followed by Solstice Minerals and Power Minerals.
So let’s dive in.
BRIGHTSTAR RESOURCES (ASX: BTR)
Project: Two Mile Hill-Shillington deposit, Sandstone gold project, in WA’s Mid West region.
Hit: 225.7m at 3.11g/t gold from 284m
Brightstar Resources barged its way into top place among this week’s Big Hits selections with the kind of gold intercept from its combined reverse circulation (RC) and diamond core drilling virtually guaranteed to sort out the contenders pretty quickly.
The company’s latest assays from the Two Mile Hill-Shillington deposit at its Sandstone gold project in Western Australia’s Mid West region delivered a broad, unconstrained 225.7-metre hit in one hole that graded 3.11 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 284m.
Within that monster envelope, an eye-catching high-grade core of 19m at 24.3g/t gold from 306m included 1m at a thumping 449g/t gold from 322m. The same hole also returned a deeper 19.1-metre section at 2.76g/t gold from 477m, including 0.8m grading 37.9g/t gold, giving that whole result both scale and sparkle.
As if to prove the big hit wasn’t a one-off, a broad intersection in a second hole rammed the point home with an emphatic 194m at 2.10g/t gold from 286m.
That hefty interval included 13m at 4.35g/t gold from 322m, including 0.8m going 53.6g/t gold from 324.2m and another 13.3m grading 2.27g/t gold from 392m, braced up with a stiff 1-metre slice at 18.1g/t gold from 392m.
The entire intercept was book-ended at the deeper end by a final hurrah - for now - of 6m at 5.54g/t gold from 450m, including a cheeky 1-metre goodbye running 30.2g/t gold from 451m.
Other narrow high-grade spikes included 0.6m at 222g/t gold from 432.5m and 0.4m at 66.9g/t gold from 479.6m.
The object of the drilling was to infill parts of Two Mile Hill, which Brightstar is evaluating for its underground mining potential as part of its pre-feasibility study workstreams. The company says the new results will feed into a planned mineral resource update and could help boost confidence in areas targeted for an upgrade to the indicated category.
The Two Mile Hill-Shillington deposit already hosts an estimated 14.6-million-tonne mineral resource grading 1.6g/t gold for 731,000 ounces.
The broader Sandstone project sits within Brightstar’s expanding WA gold portfolio, which the company says hosts a consolidated JORC-compliant 4.5 million ounces in measured, indicated and inferred categories across its Goldfields and Sandstone hubs.
Brightstar says drilling is ongoing, with its RC and diamond rigs active across multiple deposits and further deep work continuing at the newly identified Shirvington Zone below Two Mile Hill.
But for this week’s purposes, it was the combination of immense width, solid grade and visible gold-grade fireworks that gave Brightstar the nod for this week’s top spot on the podium.
Caption - Brightstar Resources drill core showing visible gold in quartz at 322.7m depth – part of a 19-metre intercept assaying 24.3g/t gold from 306m, including 1m at 449g/t gold from 322m.
SOLSTICE MINERALS (ASX: SLS)
Project: Nanadie copper-gold project, northwest of Sandstone in WA’s Mid West.
Hit: 722.3m at 0.44% copper and 0.13g/t gold.
Solstice Minerals grabbed second spot this week with a very different kind of Big Hit — not a flashy one-metre gold spike, but a whopping copper-gold drillhole that screams scale.
The company’s latest assays from its Nanadie copper-gold project near Sandstone in WA’s Mid West region returned a combined RC and diamond-tail intercept in a single hole of 722.3 metres at 0.44 per cent copper and 0.13 grams per tonne gold.
The monster run stretches from the margin of the granite on the western side of the host gabbro all the way to end-of-hole and includes all unmineralised intervals, late dykes and lower-grade material.
In other words, even after throwing the geological kitchen sink into the average grade calculation, the hole still delivered a relevant copper-gold intercept across more than 700m.
Inside that broad package were several higher-grade intervals, including 79.9m at 0.47 per cent copper and 0.19g/t gold from 362.8m; 89.3m at 0.64 per cent copper and 0.17g/t gold from 504.7m; 28m at 1.31 per cent copper and 0.30g/t gold from 630m and 19.4m going 0.99 per cent copper and 0.27g/t gold from 693m.
A deeper zone added another 43.3-metre intercept going 0.91 per cent copper and 0.35g/t gold from 761.7m, which included 8m at 1.49 per cent copper and 0.86g/t gold from 794m.
Relating that entire run of results is important because it shows the Nanadie system extends more than 500m below the current mineral resource boundary and confirms copper-gold mineralisation exists at depths of more than 700m below surface.
Solstice says the new hole is comparable to its previous intercept of 629.1m at 0.50 per cent copper and 0.17g/t gold to end-of-hole, suggesting the system is repeating its breadth and grade down-dip.
Nanadie already carries a 40.4-million-tonne inferred resource grading 0.4 per cent copper and 0.1g/t gold for 162,000 tonnes of contained copper and 130,000 ounces of gold.
Management says the latest drilling shows clear potential to materially expand that resource, particularly along the eastern margin of the host gabbro where multiple higher-grade zones appear to be developing.
The company also said it has plenty more coming, with assays pending from another 14 completed diamond holes and more than 20 RC holes.
With Nanadie sitting on a granted mining lease in WA goldfields, the latest hole gives Solstice more than just a good intercept — it gives the market a genuine scale argument for a growing copper-gold system.
POWER MINERALS (ASX: PNN)
Project: Morro do Ferro rare earths project, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Hit: 53m at 9.87% TREO and 1.69% MREO from surface.
Power Minerals jumped onto third spot on this week’s podium with a rare earths result that was impossible to ignore.
While gold and copper companies dominated much of the week’s ASX news flow, the company’s second diamond hole at its Morro do Ferro project in Brazil delivered what appears to be one of the highest-grade and thickest magnet rare earth intersections reported anywhere in recent months.
The standout hole returned a full-hole mineralised intercept of 137m grading 4.31 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO) from surface. Within that broad interval sat a remarkable 53m grading 9.87 per cent TREO and 1.69 per cent magnet rare earth oxides (MREO) from surface.
The headline-grabber was a 26.9-metre zone from 19m downhole grading 13 per cent TREO and 2.40 per cent MREO. According to the company, that is the highest-grade broad intersection recorded so far at the project and contains elevated concentrations of the heavy rare earths that are increasingly sought after for permanent magnet applications.
To put that result in context, most rare earth developers report magnet rare earths as a modest percentage of the total TREO content because the absolute concentrations are typically much lower. In contrast, Power is reporting Morro do Ferro’s MREO grade as a percentage of the whole rock, highlighting just how strongly enriched the mineralisation is.
The hole also produced the highest magnet rare earth sample ever recorded at the project, returning 19.51 per cent TREO and 3.96 per cent MREO over a two-metre interval from 39m depth. Those numbers eclipse the company’s previous drill campaign record and provide further evidence that the highest-grade portions of the system remain open.
Importantly, that drillhole was collared only 31.5m from a previously reported hole, which returned 116m at 4.78 per cent TREO from surface, including 31m at 10 per cent TREO and 1.58 per cent MREO from 14m, including a peak assay of 18.12 per cent TREO over 2m.
The most recent hole not only confirmed continuity but almost doubled the width of the high-grade core, from 31m to 53m, with mineralisation remaining open, an encouraging outcome for any future resource modelling.
The company also reported its best reliable gallium result to date, with a two-metre interval grading 87.7 parts per million gallium at a depth of 83m. Gallium has become an increasingly strategic metal recently because of its applications in semiconductors, defence systems and advanced electronics.
Power has now doubled its capability at the site, with two rigs operating to drill around 25 holes and 4000m of diamond drilling. The proposed work aims to extend the high-grade mineralisation envelope and collect metallurgical samples ahead of future development studies.
For a market increasingly focused on critical minerals supply chains outside China, Morro do Ferro is shaping up to be an interesting project to watch. And after posting a 53-metre interval grading nearly 10 per cent TREO from surface, there seems to be no doubt that Power Minerals deserved its place among this week’s Big Hits.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Doug Bright
