The third hole was placed about 15m west of the first hole drilled and intersected strong visible gold at 159.5m, 180m and 180.9m downhole, extending the system’s strike length to the west.
Drilling hit significant mineralised zones with a 1.6m quartz vein hosting multiple gold grains at a depth of 159.5m. The most prominent visible gold was apparent at depths of 180m and 180.9m.
A fourth hole is being drilled now about 50m down plunge and slightly along strike to the southeast from hole two to target continuity of the mineralised system.
Advance Metals managing director Dr Adam McKinnon said: “These initial assay results are exactly what we were hoping for, demonstrating the presence of exceptional gold mineralisation across significant widths at Myrtleford. In combination with previous drilling, these results now define a coherent ultra-high-grade zone at the Happy Valley project with potential extensions down-plunge and along strike.”
The company’s maiden diamond drilling program kicked off in February at the 418 square kilometre site focussing on its Happy Valley prospect in the southeastern portion of the project.
The company is expecting to receive assays from its second and third holes by mid-April.
At Myrtleford, Advance is onto a 13km-long trend of gold mineralisation known as the Happy Valley trend.
Management says less than 1 per cent of the 13km-long strike has been tested by drilling to date and believes the area hosts many historic gold mines worked to only shallow depths, providing substantial exploration upside at the project.
Advance believes many of the mines are on mineralised structures extending for kilometres in length, which have not been exposed to modern exploration methods.
The overall project has a 45km strike length across historical workings and old gold mines, including the Happy Valley trend, the Twist Creek trend extending for 7km and the Magpie trend running for 16km. It lies within the renowned Lachlan Fold belt, which is responsible for some of the country’s biggest gold deposits.
Twist Creek sits at the northern end of the project and will be subjected to shallow drilling when the company’s drill program at Happy Valley is completed. It features multiple mined structures that previously averaged 31g/t gold.
Advance recently signed a binding agreement with Serra Energy Metals Corporation to acquire 80 per cent of the Myrtleford and Beaufort gold projects via a joint venture.
Advance will acquire 80 per cent of the fully paid shares in E79 Resources, the legal owner of the tenements comprising the two Victorian projects.
The company will buy its stake in E79 via an initial issue of company shares, followed by three staged payments made by issuing further shares, plus a 1 per cent net smelter royalty from gold production.
The highly prospective Beaufort project is in Victoria’s southwest, 145km west of Melbourne. The region has produced more than one million ounces of alluvial gold and presents a significant opportunity to discover large-scale gold deposits, given its proximity to the world-class 22-million-ounce Bendigo goldfields and the renowned Fosterville underground gold mine that produced more than 300,000 ounces of high-grade gold in 2023.
The Myrtleford and Beaufort projects are within the historical Victorian goldfields, known for producing more than 80 million ounces of gold.
The company is now busy designing a follow-up drill program for Happy Valley and will refine drill targets when all remaining assays are received.
In a hyper gold environment where the precious yellow metal has been touching all-time highs, Advance appears to have a tiger by the tail at Myrtleford. They say grade is King and if that’s true then Myrtleford just may turn out to be royal with some off-the-scale grades across quite decent widths.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
