Australia's Brightstar Expands Sandstone Gold Mine

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On August 25, Brightstar Resources completed the first two diamond drill holes of the deep drilling program at the Two Mile Hill deposit in the Sandstone Gold Mine, Western Australia, with hole TMHDD26003 reaching a depth of 1,039.2 meters, marking the company's first deep hole exceeding 1,000 meters. The two holes each intersected approximately 400–500 meters of mineralized tonalite and recorded a total of 53 instances of visible gold.

This round of drilling is part of an approximately 3,400-meter, four-hole deep extension program, primarily testing the extension of the gold-bearing tonalite at Two Mile Hill below the existing mineral resource boundary. TMHDD26003 reached a final depth of 1,039.2 meters, and TMHDD26004 reached 888.3 meters, with both holes exceeding the planned drilling depths and ending without having exited the mineralized tonalite.

The updated geological model following drilling shows that at a depth of approximately 700 meters below surface, the horizontal thickness of the mineralized tonalite has expanded from the previously interpreted over 180 meters to more than 300 meters, with the deep extension still open. Brightstar has named the newly confirmed deep extension zone the Shirvington Zone. Visible gold in the two holes is mainly distributed within quartz veins, often associated with pyrite and galena, with some visible gold occurring directly within the tonalite.

This deep drilling follows the previous hole TMHRCD26020. That hole returned a mineralized interval of 305.4 meters at an average grade of 1.82 g/t gold from 351.9 meters, including 17.5 meters at 9.68 g/t gold, 13.4 meters at 8.59 g/t gold, and 34.6 meters at 4.11 g/t gold. That hole had previously expanded the interpreted width of the deep tonalite to over 180 meters.

Two Mile Hill and Shillington currently have a combined mineral resource of 731,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 1.6 g/t. The entire Sandstone project has a mineral resource of approximately 2.868 million ounces at an average grade of 1.3 g/t, including approximately 1.144 million ounces in the measured and indicated categories. The project is located in the Sandstone greenstone belt, approximately 600 kilometers northeast of Perth, where Brightstar controls an area of approximately 1,800 square kilometers.

The remaining two deep drill holes are still in progress. Samples collected from the first two holes are scheduled to be sent to the laboratory in August, with assay results expected to be released in late September. The company also plans to conduct follow-up exploration on up to 10 felsic intrusions identified through geophysical data near Two Mile Hill.

The pre-feasibility study for the Sandstone project is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2026, with the next mineral resource update and the first ore reserve estimate progressing in parallel. Brightstar currently plans to advance toward a final investment decision between late 2027 and early 2028, targeting the start of production in 2029.