Advance uncovers more stellar high-grade Victorian gold

Further drilling is interrogating the Victoria prospect area for holes seven and eight.

Advance is planning a new diamond drilling campaign at Happy Valley to extend high-grade mineralisation along strike and down dip, with a strong focus on the area drilled by hole three (7.5m at 47.9g/t). It will also test targets such as Sheards Reef, 1500m along trend, subject to the necessary approvals. Further regional target generation work is planned.

The results from the first four holes follow on from the previous extraordinary hit of 11.5m at 160.4g/t by a former project owner, which included a massive 2430g/t gold hit across 0.6m.

Advance recently raised $2.55 million from a share placement and is fully funded to complete an expanded drilling program at the project site.

Advance Metals managing director Adam McKinnon said: “Our maiden drilling program at Myrtleford has been incredibly successful, providing significant confidence in the immense upside potential at Happy Valley and beyond. It is good to see all four of our initial holes producing zones of high to very high-grade gold mineralisation, with the typical variability in width and grade tenor that we expect from these types of deposits.”

The maiden eight-hole diamond drilling program kicked off in February at the 418 square kilometre site focussing primarily on the Happy Valley prospect in the southeastern portion of the project.

Advance is onto a 13km-long trend of gold mineralisation, known as the Happy Valley trend, within the Myrtleford project.

Management says less than 1 per cent of the 13km-long strike has been tested by drilling to date and it believes the area hosts many historic gold mines worked to only shallow depths, providing the project with substantial exploration upside.

The overall project has a 45km strike length across historical workings and old gold mines, including the Happy Valley trend, the Twist Creek trend that extends for 7km and the Magpie trend running for 16km. It lies within the renowned Lachlan Fold belt, which is responsible for some of the country’s biggest gold deposits.

Twist Creek sits at the northern end of the project and is now being tested after Advance finished its drilling program at Happy Valley. Twist Creek features multiple mined structures that previously averaged 31g/t gold.

Advance recently signed a binding agreement with Serra Energy Metals Corporation to acquire 80 per cent of the Myrtleford and separate Beaufort gold projects via a joint venture.

Under the deal, Advance will acquire 80 per cent of the fully paid shares in E79 Resources, the legal owner of the tenements comprising the two Victorian projects.

The company is purchasing its stake in E79 via an initial issue of company shares, followed by three staged payments made by issuing further shares, plus a 1 per cent net smelter royalty from gold production.

The highly prospective Beaufort project is in Victoria’s southwest, 145km west of Melbourne. The region has produced more than one million ounces of alluvial gold and is close to the world-class, 22M-ounce Bendigo goldfields and the renowned Fosterville underground gold mine that produced more than 300,000 ounces of high-grade gold in 2023.

The Myrtleford and Beaufort projects are both within the historical Victorian goldfields, known for producing more than 80M ounces of gold.

In other company news, Advance revealed it this week kicks off its maiden 3000m diamond drilling program at the high-grade Yoquivo silver-gold project in southwestern Chihuahua in Mexico.

All requisite government and community approvals have been secured to begin drilling, with the focus on high-grade targets in the Pertenencia area. Site preparation is well advanced and drill pads have been completed to enable the first five holes to be drilled.

Drilling is planned to test along strike and down dip from previous stunning intersections, which included hits such as 6.2m grading a monster 2404g/t silver and a 17.2g/t gold slice from 64.8m depth, 1.2m going 1895g/t silver and 34g/t gold from 47.3m and 1.5m at 1473g/t silver and 4g/t gold from 100.2m.

A further impressive 3.05m hit returned 668g/t silver and 3.9g/t gold from 117.8m.

Many of the planned holes are expected to pass through up to four epithermal vein systems. Advance expects to receive the assays in the second half of June.

Yoquivo hosts a foreign estimate mineral resource of 937,000 tonnes grading 570g/t silver-equivalent for 17.23M ounces silver-equivalent from more than 16,500m of drilling.

McKinnon said the company expects to see its first high-grade silver-gold mineralisation from the drill core, followed by assays shortly after. As Yoquivo is open in every direction, he believes the program has the near-term potential to add significant value to the company.

Initial flotation and leaching testwork conducted by the previous owner indicates likely recovery levels of both metals at 85 per cent.

Advance entered a binding sale agreement with Golden Minerals in October last year to acquire full ownership of the Mexican project.

With the price of gold cruising above $5000 per ounce in Australian dollar terms and silver staying steadily above a solid US$30 (A$46) per ounce, the upcoming drilling programs at both projects may propel Advance into a group of seriously good exploration players, if the drill bit unearths some precious finds.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au