Australia's Brightstar Drills Over 500m of Mineralization at Sandstone Gold Mine

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Brightstar Resources' first diamond drill hole exceeding 1,000 meters depth at the Two Mile Hill deposit within the Sandstone Gold Project in Western Australia has intersected over 500 meters of mineralized tonalite, substantially expanding the interpreted extent of the host intrusion at the project, which hosts 2.9 million ounces of gold.

The hole, which reached a depth of 1,039.2 meters, is part of a four-hole drilling program totaling approximately 3,400 meters, of which two holes have been completed to date. The two completed holes have together recorded 53 occurrences of visible gold, intersecting 400 to 500 meters of mineralized tonalite downhole, with both holes ending in mineralized host rock beyond planned depths without crossing its western contact zone.

Based on these results, Brightstar has named the deep extension the "Shirvington Zone." The updated model shows the tonalite now exceeds 300 meters in horizontal width at approximately 700 meters below surface, remaining open at depth.

Brightstar Managing Director Alex Rovira said the intersection of more visible gold with significant thicknesses of mineralized tonalite was extremely exciting for Two Mile Hill. He noted the two completed holes encountered considerably thicker tonalite, ranging from 400 to 500 meters downhole, with gold-bearing quartz veins recorded throughout the entire tonalite unit. He believes the new down-dip extension of the tonalite provides substantial upside for both the host unit and the current mineral resource extent.

The exploration campaign follows up on hole TMHRCD26020, which previously returned a 305.4-meter uncapped intersection grading 1.82 g/t gold from 351.9 meters downhole, including higher-grade intervals of 17.5 meters at 9.68 g/t, 13.4 meters at 8.59 g/t, and 34.6 meters at 4.11 g/t gold. That hole had already tripled the interpreted horizontal thickness of the tonalite to over 180 meters; the latest geological interpretation has now expanded its width to more than 300 meters.

The deeper drilling builds on results reported in May, when visible gold encountered below 550 meters strengthened Brightstar's case for potential underground mining at Two Mile Hill. The combined Two Mile Hill–Shillington deposit currently hosts 14.6 million tonnes at 1.6 g/t gold for 731,000 ounces, and is being evaluated through underground studies and the broader Sandstone Pre-Feasibility Study.

Rovira said some of the individual gold intersections were spectacular, highlighting what an important mineralized system this tonalite-hosted deposit could represent.

The company is awaiting assay results and diamond core from the remaining two holes. Brightstar cautioned that visual estimates should not be relied upon as a substitute for laboratory analysis; visible gold particles are typically less than 1mm in diameter and are estimated to represent less than 0.01% of the mineralized zone. Assay results are expected to be released in late September. Beyond Two Mile Hill, the company also plans to investigate up to 10 largely undrilled geophysical analogues near the deposit, searching for other mineralized felsic intrusions within the Sandstone greenstone belt.