Freshly-listed Elk Range Mining gets rods spinning at Idaho gold play days after ASX listing

Elk Range Mining has started a maiden diamond drilling program at the Friday gold project in Idaho, USA.

In a move signalling a swift transition from newly minted ASX lister to active explorer, Elk Range Mining (ASX: ELK) has kicked off a maiden 2850-metre diamond drilling campaign at its Friday gold mine. The old-timer workings form part of its broader Idaho gold project, 15 kilometres southwest of Elk City in Idaho.

The company, which hit the boards just days ago following a significantly oversubscribed $10 million IPO at 20 cents a pop, is wasting no time putting its capital to work. The eight-hole program is designed to get a handle on the project's historical high-grade gold mineralisation and probe the system’s potential both at depth and along strike. The mineralised system has remained largely untested for a decade, with the first hole set to test old intersections before drilling deeper to see what might be lurking below.

The timing looks astute, with the price of gold printing higher at A$6300 per ounce, sharpening the market’s focus on new drilling and resource-growth stories. Idaho is also re-emerging as a serious mining jurisdiction, with major developments such as Perpetua Resources’ 4.8 million-ounce Stibnite gold project, 150 kilometres to the south, receiving key permitting and court approvals, underscoring that the state is drawing serious mining capital.

The Friday project comes with an extensive drilling database that points to a significant high-grade gold system. While not yet JORC-compliant, a foreign resource estimate for the old mine previously outlined 758,000 tonnes grading an impressive 5.91 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for 144,000 ounces.

A quick scan of the former drill results shows why Elk Range is keen to get the drill rods turning. Previous intercepts include a stunning 110.3 metre-wide hit running at 5.34g/t gold from just 26.7m. The dataset also includes impressive results of 54.1m at 5.62g/t gold from 237.7m and 31.7m at 7.80g/t gold from 232.3m.

Elk Range says the maiden campaign has three key objectives: to validate the historical high-grade gold numbers, to improve geological confidence on the path towards a potential JORC-compliant mineral resource and to test the mineralised system beyond the areas that were historically drilled.

We are excited to have rods spinning at Friday and to get down to the work we set out to do. We told investors that following the IPO, Elk Range would hit the ground running and rapidly deploy capital into high-value, cost-effective drilling. That is now happening.   Elk Range Mining chief executive officer Edward Keys

A significant advantage for the company is the project’s brownfields status. The Friday mine comes complete with existing underground development and established site infrastructure, including the permitted 50,000-tonne-per-annum Orogrande processing plant and assay lab.

The previous owner tipped more than US$40 million (A$57 million) into the project and Elk Range says the plant could be restarted within 12 months, offering an efficient and low-capital pathway to production. If successful, this would allow Elk Range to sidestep the usual time and capital-intensive work of establishing site access and facilities, instead channelling its exploration dollars directly into drilling and geological work.

The Idaho gold project also includes the Buffalo Gulch and Deadwood prospects, hosting non JORC compliant resources of 140,000 and 59,000 ounces of gold respectively and according to the company, could potentially host substantial gold systems, adding to its district-scale ambitions along the prolific Orogrande shear zone.

For Elk Range, having only just hit the ASX boards, getting the drill rods spinning so quickly is an impressive first shot out of the gun. With a considerable head-start afforded by existing infrastructure at a historical mine site, punters will be watching keenly for results from this Idaho gold play to start rolling in.

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