Rebadged Xpedra Resources (ASX: XPD) has achieved another key milestone in its plans to test the potential of the historic Springfield gold deposit in New South Wales. Formerly Thunderbird (ASX:THB), Xpedra is aiming to examine the relatively under-explored deposit after being granted a permit approval.
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The company, as Thunderbird, entered a binding share sale agreement to purchase Springfield in September CY25, wrapping it up in December.
With a land access agreement in place and a drilling contractor appointed, Xpedra is planning to mobilise the rig to site in coming weeks.
An initial 30 to 40 hole, approximately 3,500-metre, RC drilling is aiming to build on previous mineralisation discoveries with an infill program designed to improve continuity within the known mineralised zones.
The CY26 program also includes extensional drilling in areas where mineralisation remains open along strike, to the north and south, targeting areas that previously returned exceptionally encouraging results.
While only very limited drilling totalling 6,568 metres has been undertaken at Springfield previously, it was quite successful in intersecting several shallow, thick and high-grade gold mineralisation, including 27 metres at 3.65 grams per tonne from surface and 26 metres at 1.83 grams per tonne, 146 metres.
More recently, shallow drilling at Springfield North was the first ever follow-up of highly anomalous historical shallow air-core drilling results, including: two metres at 1.43 g/t from 13m and 1m at 1.12g/t from 10m.
“Despite the quality of these historical results, there has been no drilling at Springfield for more than 25 years, presenting an opportunity to unlock value through modern, systematic exploration,” MD, Scott Funston, said today.
“The granting of state permit approval represents the final milestone ahead of drilling, allowing Xpedra to advance Springfield into an active exploration phase as it seeks to build scale and define the gold potential of the project.”
Located in central NSW, the area was identified through historical data, 186 shallow holes drilled between the 1970s and 1990s, revealing significant, open-ended mineralisation.
XPD is trading at 2.4c today.
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