Firetail Resources makes a grab for two high-grade gold projects in the US

• Firetail Resources strikes gold with the acquisition of two new high-grade projects in Nevada and South Dakota
• Both the Excelsior Springs and Bella projects offer high-grade potential in prolific gold belts
• Company plans extensional drilling at Excelsior Springs and detailed mapping, sampling and modelling at Bella

Special Report: Firetail Resources is increasing its exposure to gold through an option to acquire two prospective, high-grade gold projects in the tier 1 jurisdictions of Nevada and South Dakota in the USA.

With gold still trading near record levels above $5100/oz, the company’s decision to branch out from copper into the precious metal is easy to justify. It has the option to acquire 80% of the Excelsior Springs gold-silver project and 100% of the Bella gold project.

That the projects look to be firmly capable of standing on their own merits is another point in their favour from Firetail Resources’ (ASX:FTL) perspective.

The Excelsior Springs project in Nevada sits within the >40Moz Walker Lane Tectonic Zone and has historical production of 19,200oz at 41g/t gold from shallow underground workings, while the Bella project in South Dakota lies within the world-class Homestake Gold Belt, which hosts a gold endowment of ~85Moz.

“The acquisition of such high-calibre gold assets will complement our current portfolio and leverages off the board’s strengths, enabling us to diversify our exposure to the prevailing strong gold and copper prices,” FTL managing director Glenn Poole said.

Non-executive director Simon Lawon, who is also the executive chairman of gold developer Spartan Resources, said securing gold assets of this quality in two of the premier gold belts in North America was a major coup for the Firetail team.

“From my recent experience at Spartan Resources, the opportunity to discover high-grade ounces close to high-quality infrastructure can be a major value driver for a junior resources company – and both of these projects offer that opportunity in spades,” he added.

Project details

FTL has the option to earn up to 80% in Excelsior Springs by paying the vendor an initial consideration of $200,000 in cash and 32 million FTL shares along with a commitment to spend US$5m over a five-year period.

Besides the historical production, drilling at the project has also defined a gold mineralised zone striking >3km with a width of 200-400m across an east-west trend.

Notable intercepts from this drilling include:

• 51.8m grading 4g/t gold from a down-hole depth of 39.6m including 6.1m at 16.3g/t from 42.7m (22_01)
• 33.5m at 5.35g/t gold from 41.2m including 10.7m at 15.99g/t from 41.2m (DB23); and
• 32m at 2.45g/t gold from 44.2m including 6.1m at 10g/t from 45.7m (22_02).

Meanwhile, Bella covers 110km of mapped banded iron formation with high-grade potential as evidenced by multiple >100g/t gold rock chip samples, similar to the main gold host at the Homestake mine, which is just 20km along trend and which has produced ~42Moz of gold.

Drilling at the historical Standby Mine returned results topping up at a massive 12.2m at 46.62g/t gold including 1.5m at 343g/t.

Channel sampling across the wider project returned multiple significant results such as 15m at 16g/t gold at the King of the West target, 10.7m at 13.3g/t (Yellow Bird), 29m at 11.3g/t (Gold King Mine) and 10.7m at 15g/t (Charter Oak Mine).

The company is paying the vendor $600,000 in cash and 17 million FTL shares with no work commitment.

“The Excelsior Springs Project represents an advanced, drill-proven opportunity with gold from surface, and the mineralisation remaining open in all directions with the potential to deliver an expedited resource – reinforced by the presence of further historic mines within the mineral claim that highlight the potential precious metal endowment of the area,” Poole said.

“The Bella Project sits in the shadow of a giant, with the Homestake mine being one of the most notable in modern history.

“The evidence we see on the ground – of extensive mineralisation-hosting Banded Iron Formation and multiple, significant grades occurring across the wider project area is highly encouraging.

“The opportunity to follow up on multiple, extensive, historically producing trends that have not been drilled in the modern era in a district known for its size and scale is hugely exciting.”

Forward plans

On completing the option to acquire Excelsior Springs, FTL plans to carry out an extensional reverse circulation drill program to define width and grade of mineralisation along the prospective strike.

It also notes that recent rock chip sampling returning intriguing assays of up to 6630g/t silver towards the eastern extent of the project area suggests that a parallel structural trend supports a wider precious metal opportunity around the Blue Dick Mine within an area which is yet to be drill tested.

Over at Bella, the company will carry out detailed mapping, sampling and geological modelling on completion of the acquisition.

This is aimed at improving the understanding of potential targets identified from geophysical surveys and historical mining records.

This article was developed in collaboration with Firetail Resources, 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.