Brightstar Resources Limited (ASX: BTR) has signed a contract with Strike Drilling to undertake an approximately 2,000m aircore programme in the highly prospective Brightstar South region of the Laverton Gold belt of Western Australia
Managing Director, William Hobba, said the drilling will be carried out over the historic project areas of Rowena, Jubilee (adjacent to Edinborough Castle) and Sailor Prince.
“The historic records of the area and prospecting indicate opportunities for high-grade gold mineralisation that has not been effectively tested by modern exploration,” Mr Hobba said.
“In many cases despite being previously owned by exploration companies these projects have suffered from a lack of funding by being overshadowed by other projects.
“Brightstar is in a position to provide these projects with effective modern exploration to assess any value in the targets.”
Geology
Larger scale mapping and interpretation undertaken by previous companies and the GSWA indicate that the projects sit wholly within a mafic package. Looking at nearby interpretations of other parts of this mafic unit indicates that it may be a layered mafic intrusion or at least has been extensively intruded with doleritic and gabbroic units.
The prevailing strike of the unit appears to be NW and steeply dipping NE. A NW striking dolerite can be seen just north of the Sailor Prince prospect and may be following a secondary structural trend identified in aeromagnetic data.
A near surface hardpan is recorded sporadically throughout much of the project area which explains the limited success of surface sampling (soil and grab samples) across the targets.
It appears that the hardpans (particularly ironstone) have prevented gold orebodies in the country rock reporting to the surface. Where the hardpans are able to be lifted using machinery it is possible to find concentrations of higher-grade alluvial gold.
To combat this potential issue with aircore effectiveness the drill rig employed for this program will use an aircore hammer to penetrate through hardpans where needed.
Targets
Sailor Prince is a project consisting of several historic mine shafts that were mined between 1898 and 1938 using non-mechanical means. Records on the DMIRS Minedex website indicate that over 4,924 troy ounces have been mined from Sailor Prince. This is significantly more than most small workings in the district and modern exploration appears to have been limited to surface geochemistry (with limited success) and a small shallow RC drill program of nine drillholes by Placer (Granny Smith) in 1995. The details of this RC programme have not been captured digitally or submitted to the DMIRS, so it is difficult to determine the effectiveness of the program.
The Jubilee prospect was identified adjacent to Edinborough Castle by a prospector in the area west of the Idalia workings. While investigating the area the prospector uncovered ~150 ounces of specimen stone rather than nuggets. This seems to indicate a more proximal origin for the gold. Drilling through this caprock may uncover the entirety of a larger bedrock system.
The Rowena project area is associated with an area that produced greater than 110 ounces of alluvial gold that was spread throughout the near surface (between 0 and 8m depth), historic mining has also been reported from the area with multiple shafts producing a combined one to two hundred troy ounces in the early part of the twentieth century (1898-1930).
Aircore drilling will help develop more accurate anomaly maps to combine with aeromagnetic interpretations to help identify metal anomalies (gold and associated pathfinders) that coincide with interpreted structural pathways.
For further information please visit: http://www.brightstarresources.com.au/
