Xpedra Resources has unveiled a stunning hit from maiden drilling at its Springfield gold project in New South Wales, intersecting a massive 94-metre-thick zone of gold grading two grams per tonne (g/t) from just 80m downhole.
The remarkable intercept included a cracking high-grade core of 13m going an impressive 10.21 g/t gold from 81m.
The result from a step-out deeper hole at the project is the best to date and, importantly, confirms the presence of significant high-grade zones within the broad mineralised system. The company says the system also remains open at depth and along strike in multiple directions.
The market clearly agreed with Xpedra’s assessment, sending the company’s share price 25 per cent higher to 2.5 cents a share in early trade on the best turnover this year.
The high-grade hits are flowing at Springfield following a 25-year drilling drought at the project. Management says it saw the opportunity to apply modern exploration to the tenure after unearthing significant historical intercepts, including 27m at 3.65 g/t gold from surface. That punt now appears to be paying off in spades.
Xpedra’s entire maiden reverse circulation (RC) drill program has progressively delivered a string of wide, shallow gold hits, now extending the known mineralised strike at the project to almost 400m.
The northernmost extensional hole of the campaign also returned solid intercepts, including 11m at 2.03g/t gold and 5m at 3.30g/t gold, confirming higher grades continue to the north.
This is significant because the mineralised intrusion is interpreted to extend for another 1.1km northwards, an area that remains largely untested and presents a clear target for future drilling.
Xpedra Resources managing director Scott Funston said: “This is the type of high-grade intercept that has the potential to materially change the scale and trajectory of Springfield.”
The Springfield project sits near the historic gold rush town of Gulgong in New South Wales, within the richly endowed Lachlan Orogen. The geological belt is renowned for hosting some of Australia’s most prolific gold systems, such as Newmont’s monster 40-million-ounce Cadia-Ridgeway mine.
With assays now received for 25 of the 27 holes drilled in the maiden campaign, the drill bit has delivered high-grade gold intervals exceeding 5g/t from 13 holes, demonstrating robust mineralisation occurs repeatedly within the project area.
Armed with these standout results, the company isn't resting on its laurels, having already kicked off a follow-up 1000-metre RC drilling program last week to immediately test for depth extensions below the promising mineralisation defined in the maiden program.
After picking up a project that had lain dormant for more than two decades in the heart of elephant country, Xpedra has wasted no time in putting its exploration funds to work.
The campaign is already paying dividends, with the highest-grade gold encountered so far emerging at depth - a tantalising sign that the best may still lie below as the company's deeper drilling program gathers momentum.
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By Andrew Todd
