Advance Metals Flags Major Expansion Potential At Happy Valley after Deep Visible Gold Hit
Advance Metals (ASX: AVM) is preparing to accelerate exploration at the Happy Valley deposit at its Myrtleford project in Victoria’s goldfields after intersecting visible gold mineralisation in the deepest hole drilled there to date.
The company is considering bringing in additional rigs as part of a follow-up exploration strategy to fully define the scale of the deposit after having significant success in a maiden program earlier this year, as well as in the current deep, step-out hole.
The visible gold hit associated with sulphide-bearing quartz veins 140 metres below any previous intersection has highlighted the significant expansion potential at Happy Valley, with the system now extending over 500m vertically while remaining open in all directions.
Next Stage of Exploration
Advance is now eagerly awaiting results of assays from the new hole, which it collared from a new drill pad further to the north of the previous holes.
The company has been targeting an area immediately below the historical Happy Valley mine, with results to date highlighting the encouraging tenor and continuity of the mineralisation.
Advance is also looking to test the potential of the broader Happy Valley trend with its maiden drilling of the Queen of the Hills prospect on target to commence in mid-November.
It is in a strong financial position after recently raising $13 million in a placement to global institutional investors.
‘Regionally Significant Result’
“This observation of visible gold is perhaps the single most significant result for the Myrtleford project to date,” managing director Dr Adam McKinnon said.
“While we have to wait for the laboratory assays to fully confirm the results, we believe this will be one of the deepest hits in the northeastern goldfields, setting up Happy Valley as a regionally significant gold discovery on par with the early exploration results at the likes of Southern Cross Gold’s (ASX: SX2) Sunday Creek deposit.”
The continuity and strong grade tenor Advance observed in holes drilled higher in the system earlier this year facilitated the company’s confidence in drilling so deep.
“We are moving quickly to implement the next stage of exploration and I’m very excited to see how big the project could become,” Dr McKinnon added.