Far East Gold Ltd (ASX:FEG) earlier this week reported coarse visible gold and bonanza-grade intercepts from its first drill hole at the Sua prospect, part of the Idenburg Gold Project in Papua Province, Indonesia.
The company told Proactive that hole KSD023 intersected multiple high-grade zones, including 82 grams per tonne of gold over 8.4 metres. The average across the intercept was nearly 10 metres at 14 grams per tonne, located just 18 metres from surface.
The hole was twinned approximately seven metres from a prior drill hole. Far East Gold said the decision was made to verify historical data and assess continuity. It confirmed that the new hole outperformed the original, both in grade and geological indicators.
The company told investors that it had identified more than 30 stacked quartz-sulphide veins in the system. It said this may indicate multiple high-grade shoots along strike and depth, supporting both grade and tonnage potential at the project.
Proactive: Shane, it's good to have you again. We're kickstarting the new working week on a pretty high note, by the looks of it.
Shane Menere: We're quite excited with what we're seeing now.
Proactive: Shane, we're talking coarse visible gold — 82 grams per ton over 8.4 metres. That's pretty significant. Walk us through some of those results from Sua today.
Shane Menere: Yeah, look, it's a fantastic result out of Sua. We dropped a twin hole about seven metres away from the last hole. That one didn't have any visible gold. This one did. So this is exceeding the original drill hole, the original grams.
The fact that we’re seeing visible gold — this particular intercept, which is hole KSD023, our first hole at Sua — we saw 180 grams per ton, 131 grams per ton, and it averaged nearly ten metres at around 14 grams per ton. And it's close to the surface, only 18 metres deep. So very, very happy with that result. It certainly confirms what we'd hoped to see and exceeds expectations.
Proactive: Why did you choose to twin this hole? And what did it prove?
Shane Menere: Let me use the term loosely — it was a bold move. We needed to be confident, within the company, that what was done there previously by the former project owners and developers was actually representative of what was under the ground. So we took that chance.
We're not just about chasing the grade and showing those results to the market. We're producing and developing what we believe is a world-class asset here. So there are steps you have to take — starting from the basics, proving what’s there. We dropped that hole and couldn’t be happier with the result — exceeding those original end-of-hole results.
Proactive: What does this tell you about the geology and potential scale?
Shane Menere: It tells us that the system could be richer and more continuous than previously modelled. We’ve identified more than 30 stacked quartz-sulphide veins. That means there could be multiple high-grade shoots along strike and at depth. This is exactly the type of geometry that supports both high grade and meaningful tonnage in a project like Idenburg.
Proactive: You were with me last week — we spoke about the approval you received. It gained a lot of traction from investors. It was the green light from the Indonesian government to move forward. How does the forestry reclassification support your next steps at Idenburg?
Shane Menere: There’s now a very strong pathway to resource growth and developing the project. The Indonesian government recently downgraded the forestry classification to "production forest" at Idenburg. That improves the development pathway, de-risks the project, and sets us up for future permitting, approvals, and all the way through to mine site and operation.
Now that we're into the step-out drilling program to test continuity along strike and at depth — as long as the grades continue — combine all those positive results with the forestry downgrade, we’re on our pathway to developing this into a potential tier-one project.
Proactive: It's certainly quite effective to keep investors hooked and hyped up until the next announcement. It's been great having you on board to kickstart the week. This was Far East Gold managing director Shane Menere — thank you so much.
Shane Menere: Thank you.