Brightstar kicks off drilling at expanded 1.45Moz portfolio

Gold developer Brightstar Resources Ltd (ASX: BTR) has rolled out a program of up to 30 kilometres of drilling work across its expanded 1.45-million-ounce portfolio of projects in the West Australian Goldfields region, including two picked up from Linden Gold through an ongoing takeover offer.

At Brightstar’s original gold projects – including Menzies and the Laverton Hub – the drilling work will focus on resource upgrades and extensions, although there will also be greenfields work carried out at the St Francis prospect.

At Menzies, infill reverse circulation (RC) drilling targeting the Lady Shenton system in particular – is seeking to boost the latter into measured and indicated status to support mine planning.

A scoping study completed last September suggested a potential yield of 100,000 ounces of gold from two new open pits within the Lady Shenton system, and a cut back of the existing mine, considering pit shells of $2,750 and $2,800 per ounce, as well as underground designs.

Concurrent greenfields drilling at St Francis is bolstered by previous achievements at the Selkirk deposit – located 1.5 kilometres to the southeast – which generated $6.5 million profit to Brightstar through a recent joint venture.

Brightstar is also seeking high-grade underground gold resources and baseload free open pit targets at Linden Gold’s Second Fortune and Jasper Hills projects, which will be subject to RC and diamond drilling.

Managing director Alex Rovira said the first part of the drilling program at Brightstar’s Menzies and Laverton hub should support mine planning work later on.

“We expect these holes to deliver valuable information for geological, mine planning, geotechnical and metallurgical purposes ahead of the combined pre-feasibility study to be released by the end of the year,” he said.

“We’re also targeting greenfields exploration growth at the St Francis and Delta 2 prospects within the Menzies and Laverton gold projects respectively, with both highly compelling targets identified for drill testing.”

He added that Brightstar would also be adding several experienced people to its staff.

“We are also thrilled to announce the commencement of Jonathan Gough as General Manager – Geology along with the recent appointment of Edward Keys as Exploration Manager,” he said.

“Jonathan and Ed both come to Brightstar with proven successes in their recent geology management roles at Musgrave Minerals and Prodigy Gold, respectively.

“In addition, Linden Gold has recently appointed Jamie Brown as Chief Geologist initially based at Second Fortune, with the site team bolstered by Jamie’s strong background in
operational underground mine geology.”

Brightstar has been trading flat at 1.6c.