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Murray Ward
Advance Metals has developed a new 3D geological model for its Happy Valley gold project in Victoria that it says has cracked the code on the controls of its high-grade mineralisation.
The breakthrough landed as the final assays from its recent drilling program delivered another set of high-grade results. Top of the pops was a spectacular 1.8-metre hit grading 15.2 grams per tonne(g/t) gold from 132.3m, featuring a bonanza 0.2m core running at an eye-watering 131.5g/t gold.
Another hole returned a 1.3m intercept at 4.65g/t gold from a deeper 324m.
The companyโs new model has identified three main gold-bearing quartz veins that extend to at least 500m below the surface. Advance says it shows high-grade shoots form where these veins intersect, resulting in a sub-vertical plunge that gives management a much clearer roadmap for targeting extensions to the known mineralisation.
The latest results build on a string of impressive hits at Happy Valley that recently prompted the company to consolidate 100 per cent ownership of the project.
โThe Victorian gold projects continue to provide Advance with meaningful gold exposure.โ
Advance Metals managing director and chief executive officer Dr Adam McKinnon
The previous drilling turned heads with a stunning 1.3m section grading 305.8g/t gold within a bonanza-grade intercept of 7.5m at 55g/t gold.
Advance is now applying its new geological understanding to the broader Myrtleford project area and has kicked off a regional mapping and sampling program along the 16-kilometre-long Magpie-Barwidgee trend.
The area is littered with numerous historic gold workings that have never been tested by modern drilling, generating a swag of new high-priority targets for the company.
Over at its other Victorian holding, the Beaufort gold project, the company has just completed an initial rock chip sampling program comprising 46 samples.
The work targeted areas with coincident gold-in-soil anomalies and outcropping quartz veins that align with major regional structures. Results for the rock chip samples are currently pending.
Advance Metals managing director and chief executive officer Dr Adam McKinnon said: โThe final assays from Happy Valley are encouraging, but the key outcome is the improved geological model now in place. It gives us a much clearer understanding of the controls on high-grade gold mineralisation and provides a stronger framework for future targeting.โ
The Victorian gold hunt is just one half of a well-funded, dual-pronged exploration strategy for Advance.
Across the pond in Mexico, the company recently hit a broad 54.6m zone of copper-silver-gold mineralisation at its Gavilanes project, hinting at a much larger, multi-layered system sitting beneath a known high-grade silver deposit.
That success followed the definition of a maiden JORC-compliant resource of 33 million silver-equivalent ounces at its nearby Yoquivo project.
The companyโs aggressive exploration push across two continents is backed by a replenished war chest following a $3 million institutional placement late last year.
Next up, Advance will put its new geological blueprint to work by chasing additional high-grade extensions at Happy Valley, while continuing to map and sample priority targets along the 16-kilometre Magpie-Barwidgee trend. At Beaufort, pending rock-chip assays are expected to help rank the best drill targets, setting the stage for the companyโs next round of drilling.
For the company, understanding the structural controls of a deposit is half the battle won. With a new 3D model providing a clearer geological roadmap at Happy Valley, a pipeline of untested regional targets along strike and assays pending from Beaufort, Advance appears to be methodically building its case in one of Australiaโs most revered historical gold provinces.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
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