Xpedra Resources has kicked off reverse circulation drilling along a neglected and poorly tested 1700-metre-long high-grade gold intrusion at its wholly owned Springfield project in central New South Wales.
The company picked up the project late last year as part of an expansion into the state and sits within its Slasher Flat tenement package in the world-renowned Lachlan Orogen.
The 3500-metre drilling blitz across up to 40 holes – the first modern exploration in 25 years – will chase extensions to thick, shallow, high-grade historical gold intercepts that remain open along strike and at depth.
Originally discovered by Newcrest, the Springfield system saw 186 holes drilled between the 1970’s and late 1990’s across Springfield and nearby Springfield North; however, the work amounted to just 6568 metres of drilling in total.
Despite the lack of exploration at the time, considerable shallow, thick, and high-grade mineralisation was intersected. Best results from Springfield included hits such as 27m running 3.65 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from surface and featuring 6m grading 8.29g/t gold from surface. Another hole cut an impressive 65m running 1.16g/t gold from just 2m depth, with higher-grade zones inside.
Deeper, wider zones of mineralisation pulled from the old drilling suggest the gold mineralisation may be strengthening at depth, best illustrated by one hole that intersected 86m grading 1.04g/t gold from 104m. That hole also lit up a 12-metre slice grading 2.90g/t gold from 160.0 metres and a 26-metre section assaying 1.83g/t gold from 146m depth.
At Springfield North, just 150 metres north and along strike of the Springfield deposit, shallow gold mineralisation from air core drilling was never followed up. Old intersections included 2m running 1.43g/t gold from 13m in one hole and 1m grading 1.12g/t gold from 10 metres in another hole.
Gold mineralisation is also present at multiple other prospects within the company’s tenure.
Notably, drilling across the project area was restricted to five hundred metres of the 1,700-metre strike length, representing only 29 per cent of the known intrusion, leaving more than a kilometre of strike length of the mineralised monzodiorite untested. With average hole depths of only 35 metres, large parts of the system remain profoundly underexplored.
Xpedra Resources managing director Scott Funston said: “The start of this maiden drill program marks the culmination of preparations and logistical work completed by Xpedra since we acquired the Springfield gold project late last year.”
Structurally, the Springfield deposit lies within a 7 km corridor bounded by two north-south faults, where the brittle, continuous porphyritic rock provides an ideal setting for structural fracturing, fluid focusing and large-scale mineralisation.
Xpedra says its plan is a simple one: confirm the continuity of the known mineralisation and start testing the wider potential of the intrusive system.
If the drilling can stitch together the previously reported intercepts and expand the mineralised footprint, Springfield could quickly shape up as a far larger gold system than historical work ever suggested.
With rods now turning and assays expected to follow in the coming months, the company is finally putting the project through its first modern exploration campaign.
And given the thick gold hits already sitting in the historical data, Springfield may well prove to be a case of unfinished business waiting for the right junior to pick up the drill bit again.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
