Far East Gold Ltd is planning to build on the 540,000-ounce gold resource at the Idenburg Gold Project in Papua, Indonesia with a 32-hole, 3,760-metre diamond drilling program.
The project’s current resource – independently reported by SMGC – of 4.1 million tonnes at an average grade of 4.1 g/t gold and 3.6 g/t silver was generated from only 3 of 14 prospect areas identified from historical exploration work, offering a large pipeline of drilling targets.
The company says previous exploration has covered only about 30% of the total project area, with the majority of the tenure underexplored and offering high potential for an expansion to existing resources.
“This is pivotal time for FEG. The company is well-funded and has the people and plans in place to complete our exploration strategy,” Far East Gold managing director and CEO Shane Menere said.
“The focus is to significantly increase the in-situ gold resource and advance the project to feasibility as quickly as possible.”
Targeting 7.2 million ounces of gold
Alongside Idenburg’s resource estimate, consultants SMGC also produced an exploration target for the project, outlining a potential resource of between 7.2 million ounces at 6.1 g/t gold and 189,000 ounces at 1.0 g/t gold.
FEG intends to first complete a 20-hole 2,670-metre program to infill and expand resource estimates at the Sua, Bermol and Mafi prospect areas, testing defined zones along strike and at depth with an eye to upgrading the existing resources to the indicated and measured categories.
The holes will also provide composite material for metallurgical testing that will offer mineral recovery insights.
The remaining 12 holes will be drilled as a 1,000-metre scouting program at the Kwaplu prospect area, which is host to a large gold-in-soil anomaly that has not yet been drill tested.