Firetail Resources Grows US Excelsior Springs Gold Project with New Targets

Firetail Resources (ASX: FTL) has already achieved exploration success after adding strategic new acreage to its Excelsior Springs gold project in Nevada, USA.

The company’s staking crew recently found six previously unrecognised workings both within the existing project area and newly staked claims, including a large adit.

The newly discovered areas now provide the company with promising follow-up targets as it continues to build on its strategic position in the prolific Walker Lane gold belt.

Field-Based Program

Firetail added the Nevada project to its portfolio in early June and is already evaluating drill targets there via field-based exploration work.

Firetail defined the six priority target areas at Excelsior Springs for its initial phase of detailed field-based exploration using a combination of drilling, geochemistry, induced polarisation test work, mapping, shafts, pits, and trenching.

The company is also investigating the scale potential of multiple untested or under-evaluated targets it identified during the due diligence period for the acquisition.

Gold Mineralisation Potential

Managing director Glenn Poole said Firetail targeted the new areas following a mapping exercise that indicated the presence of Tertiary felsic intrusives, which are known to have the potential to host significant gold mineralisation in the region.

“Excelsior [Springs] has all the hallmarks of a substantial gold mineralising system with multiple deposit styles, structural settings and host lithologies,” Mr Poole said.

“Within the project, the intrusion-related gold potential has only undergone limited exploration including geochemistry, spectral analysis and small-scale mining via adits, shafts and prospecting pits.”

Multiple Workstreams

Firetail already has multiple workstreams underway at the Buster and Blue Dick mines including field mapping, geochemical sampling, and underground surveying, while results from an interpretation of geophysical surveys will assist the company in its diamond drill planning.

“The Buster Trend, which extends over 3 kilometres of strike and is between 300m and 550m wide, has been the predominant target of previous explorers and mining,” Mr Poole said.

“However, the work we have completed to date shows there are multiple parallel trends that have been mined historically situated in completely different orientations and host lithologies.”

Peru Work Completed

Elsewhere, Firetail wrapped up its field work at the Picha copper project in Peru earlier this week.

The company funded the multi-disciplinary exploration activities through an equity-free BHP Xplor grant.

Firetail has now completed site works for magnetics and magnetotellurics geophysical surveys, which will provide it with high-resolution information across 100% of the Picha project area, and expects to receive the final results from this program in August.