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- Drilling contract signed for maiden RC drill program
- Drilling targeted for September quarter of 2026
- Drilling to be undertaken by established North American contractor
- Program designed to test historical mine footprint
Pioneer Minerals (ASX: PMM) has awarded a drilling contract for its maiden reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at the historic Springfield tungsten, gold and gallium project, part of the North Pine project in Idaho, USA.
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Drilling services will be provided by experienced North American drilling contractor Alaska Midnight Sun Drilling, with rig mobilisation currently anticipated in the September quarter of 2026.
Near-term work programs to be completed ahead of drilling include reopening of the historic Springfield Mine access road, completion of a planned electromagnetic survey, geological mapping and final drill target generation.
“Securing Midnight Sun as drilling contractor represents another important milestone as Pioneer advances Springfield toward its maiden drill program,” CEO, Michael Beven, said.
“Over recent months we have significantly enhanced our understanding of the project through geochemistry, geophysics and detailed LiDAR interpretation, and we are now moving toward directly testing these targets.
“Importantly, Springfield continues to evolve as a large-scale multi-commodity system comprising tungsten, gold and gallium mineralisation. The upcoming drilling program represents the first opportunity to test the broader scale potential of the system beneath historical workings and newly identified structures corridors.
“With road access reopening, EM surveys and additional field programs progressing, Pioneer is entering a strong period of operational activity and news flow, and we look forward to commencing drilling in the coming months.”
The maiden Springfield drill program is expected to comprise up to 2,000m of RC drilling across approximately 35 drill holes and will represent the first modern drilling campaign undertaken across the broader Springfield system.
The program will test multiple high-priority targets generated from integration of historical mine records, geological mapping, rock chip geochemistry, magnetic surveys and recently completed LiDAR structural interpretation.
Recent LiDAR work identified several previously unrecognised structural features including a northeast trending fault interpreted to crosscut directly through the historic Springfield Mine area and intersect a large magnetic anomaly previously identified by Pioneer. These structures are interpreted as potential fluid pathways capable of controlling tungsten, gold and gallium mineralisation and are considered highly prospective drill targets.
An upcoming EM survey will be completed ahead of drilling and incorporated into final collar placement and drill planning.
“The company believes the integration of structural interpretation and conductive sulphide targets provides multiple layers of geological support and materially enhances targeting confidence,” Mr Beven said.
“The maiden program is expected to test both the scheelite-bearing tungsten skarn system and independent structurally controlled gold and gallium mineralisation identified through recent exploration activities.”
PMM is steady at 17.0¢. Mkt cap $11.85M.
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