Freshly listed Elk Range Mining (ASX:ELK) has locked in a drilling contractor for its maiden 2,850m diamond campaign at the Friday Gold Mine in Idaho, marking its move from ASX newcomer to active explorer.
Eight holes are planned in Phase 1, targeting historical high-grade gold while pushing the Friday system deeper and further along strike.
Unlike many early-stage explorers, Elk Range isn’t starting from scratch.
Back into the high-grade zones
The first campaign has a clear objective. Find out how much more gold Friday could hold.
Drilling will twin and extend selected historical holes to validate previous high-grade mineralisation, while infill drilling will build geological confidence ahead of potential future JORC resource work.
More importantly, Elk Range will test beyond the areas that received most of the historical drilling.
Two additional holes have already been identified as potential Phase 2 targets, depending on what the first eight deliver.
CEO Edward Keys said the program will help validate historical mineralisation while testing Friday’s potential at depth and along strike.
Figure 1: Phase 1 Friday drilling plan. Eight holes are planned for ~2,850m with additional holes considered for Phase 2.
A head start underground
Friday comes with something most exploration projects don’t, existing infrastructure.
The site already has underground development, a permitted processing plant, roads, power and supporting facilities.
Drill pads are established, core-processing facilities are ready and the first campaign sits on patented mining claims.
That gives Elk Range a brownfields advantage, allowing more of its exploration spend to go directly into drilling and understanding the gold system rather than building basic project infrastructure.
Three months of drilling ahead
The surface program is expected to run for around three months, with assays to be released as material results become available.
Those results will determine where Elk Range heads next, including the potential for additional surface holes and future underground drilling.
For a newly listed explorer, the transition to the next phase is happening quickly.
The infrastructure is there. The historical gold is there. Now Elk Range gets to test what Friday still has left to give.
