Xpedra Resources has hit broad zones of gold in its deepest drilling to date at the company’s Springfield gold deposit, 10km south of Gulgong in New South Wales, confirming the mineralised system has legs at depth.
Assays from the four deepest holes drilled so far at Springfield have all returned significant gold intercepts. The headline result was a thick 64-metre hit grading 1.34 grams per tonne gold from 140m downhole. That zone contained a higher-grade internal section of 21m at 2.41g/t gold from 167m featuring a robust 10-metre core zone going 3.68g/t gold from 176m.
Other new results from the deep drilling program included a 27-metre section at 1.50g/t gold from 140m, which held a richer 6-metre interval at 3.68g/t gold from 142m. The company also recorded a 16-metre intercept at 1.24g/t gold from 197m and a shallower 5-metre hit grading an impressive 6.58g/t gold from 108m.
These latest deep intervals build on a string of compelling results from Xpedra’s first two drilling campaigns. With assays now received for all 31 holes, the company looks to have pieced together a sizeable and robust mineralised system.
Previously reported shallow intercepts painted a picture of a deposit blessed with near-surface riches, including a standout 94m at 2.00g/t gold from 80m that enclosed a bonanza-grade 13-metre section going 10.21g/t gold.
Other significant surface or near-surface hits included 44m at 2.03g/t gold from just 1m, 55m at 1.32g/t gold from surface, and 24m at 2.97g/t gold, also from surface.
Xpedra only acquired a 100 per cent interest in the Springfield deposit last November. Prior to its involvement, the project had remained undrilled since 1999, with previous drilling comprising only 186 holes for 6568 metres, most of which was constrained to shallow depths, with an average hole depth of just 35m.
The company’s exploration work to date has now defined continuous, broad mineralisation over more than 400m of strike, with excellent continuity from the surface down to at least 150m down-dip. Critically, management says the mineralisation remains completely open at depth and along strike.
Xpedra Resources managing director Scott Funston said:“These latest results significantly increase the known depth extent of the Springfield Gold Deposit and demonstrate excellent down-dip continuity of mineralisation, adding further evidence of the deposit’s scale potential. Very robust shallow mineralisation has now been delineated continuously over at least 400m of strike."
The latest results come at a time when Australian gold sector dealmaking is running hot, with a fresh wave of mergers and acquisitions heightening market interest in emerging deposits which show signs of scale and growth potential.
With a healthy $3.1 million in cash at the end of the June quarter, Xpedra is already planning its next moves and has set a path towards an extensive third-phase drilling program, slated to kick off once the required permits are in hand.
The upcoming campaign is designed to be a triple treat, targeting the completely undrilled 1.1-kilometre-long northern strike extension of the mineralised host intrusion, testing for further down-dip extensions beneath the 400m-long corridor drilled to date and chasing specific strike and depth extensions of high-grade zones such as the previously reported 13m intercept at 10.21g/t gold.
With all of the assays from the first two campaigns now to hand, Xpedra is standing on a solid geological foundation as it launches into its next exploration phase. Parts of the ground tested to date have shown the company has the goods with both grade and thickness. If a fresh drill bit can prove the system persists along its significant untested strike length and with some depth, things at Springfield could quickly get interesting.
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By Doug Bright
