Future Battery Minerals finds new gold prospects in Miriam review

• FBM finds gold targets in historical review at Miriam project
• Company recently consolidated project’s gold and base metal rights
• Soil sampling and geophysical surveys underway
• RC drilling is set to commence in July

Special Report: Future Battery Minerals has identified new gold prospects at its recently consolidated Miriam project in WA thanks to a review of historical data

The project has some notable gold neighbours including Horizon Minerals’ (ASX:HRZ) Burbanks mine (466,000oz at 2.4g/t gold), Beacon Minerals’ (ASX:BCN) McPhersons Reward mine (132,000oz at 1.2g/t) and Focus Minerals’ (ASX:FML) Coolgardie Operations (2.7Moz at 1.8g/t).

The Miriam tenure was subject to intense gold prospecting following initial discovery in the 1890s and it was within the shafts and workings where spodumene bearing pegmatites were first observed in 2022.

And, while modern exploration is limited within the Miriam project tenure area, multiple gold occurrences – including Forest, Goroke and Burbanks Monarch – have been recorded and are available on the Mines and Mineral Deposits Public Database (MINEDEX).

FBM’s review of historical geological and drilling data was completed following the company’s acquisition of the gold and base metal rights (plus residual lithium rights).

So far, it has highlighted consistent and continuous gold mineralisation previously intersected over a strike of more than 600m at the Forrest prospect, with best intercepts of:

• 12m at 2.09g/t gold from 60m;
• 10m at 2.51g/t from 30m;
• 10m at 2.09g/t from 30m and 4m at 4.86g/t from 73m;
• 5m at 7.35g/t from 70m;
• 8m at 1.63g/t from 28m; and
• 9m at 1.07g/t from 51m.

The review also flagged two further gold occurrences at Forrest South (16m at 0.94g/t gold from 44m) and Jungle (4m at 3.37g/t from 97m).

Future Battery Minerals (ASX:FBM) says the gold mineralisation at Forrest remains open at depth and to the northeast and southwest – representing priority targets for initial follow-up drilling.

Watch: FBM Full Miriam minerals acquired for Goldfields drilling

Nearby toll treatment potential

FBM says any future gold discoveries at the project will benefit from exceptional commercialisation optionality with several operating gold mills in proximity, including the Burbanks mine, 1km away, which contains a mill and processing plant owned by Auric Mining.

There’s also the Greenfields Mill, owned and operated by FMR Investments, and the Three Mile Hill Mill, owned and operated by Focus Minerals, around 16km away.

The company is completing a litho-geophysics and geochemistry review on Miriam, aiming to better define key structural gold targets that have been identified. Initial RC drilling is set to begin in July.

“We now plan to overlay these identified zones with the outcomes from the geophysical and geochemical data review currently in progress,” FBM managing director and CEO Nick Rathjen said.

“This process will allow us to refine our initial pipeline of key gold targets, in preparation for targeted initial drilling of these targets commencing in July.

“We are excited to be approaching our first drilling program at Miriam.

“The project is an undeniably attractive exploration opportunity, offering structurally controlled gold prospectivity (along with lithium opportunity) matched with multiple potential commercialisation pathways given its proximity to established process facilities for both gold and lithium.”

This article was developed in collaboration with Future Battery Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.