First Au (ASX:FAU) makes strides at high-potential Victorian projects - Kalkine Media

Highlights

• First Au has a commanding strategic landholding covering historic goldfields around Snowstorm, Haunted Stream, Dargo and Dogwood, and huge alluvial gold production areas.
• The company has its focus on gold and copper projects in East Gippsland, Victoria.
• At the Snowstorm project, high-grade results from drilling include 3m @ 11.6 g/t Au1, 6.4m @ 4.1 g/t Au, and 4.8m @ 5.8 g/t Au.
• At the Dogwood porphyry copper project, FAU has completed drilling with extensive copper mineralisation greater than 70m downhole, reflected in initial results.

First Au Limited (ASX:FAU), a gold and base metals exploration company, is actively advancing its tenements in the East Gippsland region of Victoria. The company has a significant tenure in this underexplored region, which has proven historical mines producing high-grade gold of more than 30 g/t Au.

The Geological Survey of Victoria identified that the same rocks that host the Bendigo, Ballarat, and Fosterville gold deposits have been folded around a ‘wedge’ of older Proterozoic rocks, which make up the Melbourne zone and extend to the east, where FAU has its Victorian gold projects.

A tenement map of Victorian gold and copper project areas (MGA 94 Zone 54)

(Image source: FAU report)

The company has completed drilling at its Dogwood Porphyry copper and gold project with initial assay results indicating the presence of extensive copper mineralisation. FAU plans to initiate drilling at the Haunted Stream project in the future.

At its Snowstorm project, the company has already received highly encouraging results from drilling.

Dogwood Porphyry Copper and Gold project

Discovered by Australian Anglo American Prospecting (AAAP) in 1980, the Dogwood project was last drilled by CRA Exploration in 1993 and 1994.

It has been identified by the US Geological Survey (USGS) that the western margin of the Lachlan Fold Belt is prospective for porphyry copper-moly-gold deposits, wherein the USGS has particularly highlighted the potential of Dogwood.

In July 2022, FAU completed a maiden 2,000m diamond drilling campaign at Dogwood. The results for the initial two holes have been announced:

• Hole 1 intercepted a 72.7m zone of broadly disseminated Cu mineralisation from 41m to 113.7m
• Hole 3 intercepted a 32m zone of broadly disseminated Cu mineralisation from 180.1m to 212.1m

The company states the initial results indicate that the Dogwood Porphyry copper project has a significant mineralisation potential consistent with a large hydrothermal system.

Further assay results are pending from the remaining 12 holes.

Haunted Stream Project

The mineralised footprint at Haunted Stream includes around 150 historical workings spanning 8.5km of strike length. A huge hydrothermal system will be needed to drive sites of mineralisation across such a wide stretch.

 
Image Source: Company Presentation

The project continues to demonstrate potential for significant high-grade gold mineralisation, as indicated by the sampling of historical workings and rock chip sampling. At present, soil sampling, field mapping, and underground rehabilitation work are underway to gear up for drilling across the project.

FAU plans to target the Ernestine-Hibernia trend during the initial exploration at the project site. During drilling, the company will focus on the shoots and extensions of shoots across the Ernestine – Hibernia corridor.

Snowstorm project   

At the Snowstorm project, two diamond drilling programs have already been completed in the last one year for a total of 2,791m.

Some of the highlights from the drilling results are:

• 1m @ 11.6 g/t Au from 53m, including 0.8m @ 33.3 g/t Au from 54m
• 2m @ 8.5 g/t Au from 63.6m, including 0.2m @ 49.3 g/t Au
• 4m @ 4.1 g/t Au from 28.5m, including 0.2m @ 59.2 g/t Au from 29.3m
• 6m @ 5.3 g/t Au from 60.9m, including 0.4m @ 23.8 g/t Au from 63.15m
• 8m (true width) @ 5.8 g/t Au from 62.3m, including 0.5m @ 16.15 g/t Au from 56.7m

Since the assays have been consistent across mineralised zones, a bulk sampling program will be developed in the next stage of exploration.

Since 2021, FAU has undertaken extensive field mapping, rock chip sampling and nearly 5,000m of diamond drilling, with results demonstrating the mineralised potential of its tenure, as per the company’s latest presentation released in September 2022.

Stock information: FAU shares traded at AU$0.005 apiece on 17 October 2022.