Highlights
- Recent drilling at the Yidby Gold Project intersected 20m at 1.73 g/t gold, confirming the extension of the Yidby old system.
- January 2024 column leach tests achieved a gold recovery of 66.3% and revealed a 68% increase in gold content.
- Further work is planned to develop an open-cut heap leach operation.
Surefire Resources NL (ASX:SRN) has released encouraging results from the recently completed drilling of new targets at its Yidby Gold Project, located in the Mid-West region of Western Australia.
The results highlight the extension of the Yidby Gold system, with significant results including an intersection of 20m at 1.73 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold. Moreover, the drilling has confirmed the continuation of previously reported high-grade intercepts.
Encouraging drilling outcomes
The Yidby Gold Project is emerging as a large-scale gold system, demonstrating significant potential with wide 80m mineralised zones that currently extend over a strike length of 3km. The recent drilling program aimed to extend the existing mineralised system and test new priority targets identified through an analysis of geophysical data, structural interpretation, and drill chip relogging.
The 1,782m drilling program included 13 reverse circulation (RC) drill holes. Samples were collected at 1m intervals from each hole with 4m composites sent for laboratory assay. Areas with gold anomalies were further analysed at 1m intervals.
SRN has reported the following intersections from the first two holes, YBRC102 and YBRC103:
Recent findings follow earlier results from June 2023. The 1m samples have been sent to laboratory for further gold assaying.
Metallurgical Testing Yields Exceptional Results
SRN has also achieved promising results from metallurgical column leach testing on its Yidby Gold Project.
Initial sighter tests completed in 2022 demonstrated exceptional gold recovery rates of up to 99.5%. Further comprehensive testing conducted in January 2024 yielded a gold recovery rate of 66.3% and a 68% increase in measured gold content.
The testing highlighted that the presence of fine (<0.5mm) coarse gold can lead to underestimations in drill hole assay readings. Initial drilling assays for the column leach test reported a grade of 0.75 g/t Au, but after the leaching process, the recovered gold grade increased significantly to 1.26 g/t Au, a 68% improvement.
Further work is planned to develop an open cut heap leach operation.
SRN shares were trading at AU$0.004 per share at the time of writing on 4 December 2024.