Transcription of The Stock Network Interview with Far East Gold (ASX:FEG), CEO Shane Menere
Lel Smits: Far East Gold is advancing its flagship Eidenberg Gold project in Papua, Indonesia, where recent extension drilling at the sewer prospect has confirmed high-grade gold mineralisation extending both down-dip and along-strike. I’m joined today by Managing Director and CEO, Shane Mennery, to discuss the latest drilling success, the upcoming resource update and how the next phase of drilling could further grow the Eidenberg Gold system. Shane, welcome back to the Stock Network.
Shane Menere: Thanks, Lel, it’s wonderful to be here talking with you again.
Lel Smits: Great to have you on and excited to share that recent drilling has extended the gold-bearing shear zones at the sewer prospect. Based on these results, what’s this telling you about the overall scale potential of the sewer system within the broader Eidenberg project?
Shane Menere: The latest drilling has been really very encouraging actually.
Our extension drilling was designed to test the continuation of gold-bearing shear zones that had been identified in that earlier work and what we’ve confirmed is that the mineralisation continues to extend both down-dip and along-strike. So, in fact, the latest holes have extended the known gold system by about 100 metres down-dip and, importantly, the system remains open in multiple directions. So, we also intersected several strong gold zones, including 10.29 grams per tonne of gold over 1.65 metres, along with other high-grade intervals as a highlight within that broader mineralised structure.
So, what is particularly interesting is that we see these multiple stacked quartz sulphide veins with large shear zones, which suggests strongly that we’re dealing with a sizeable mineralised structure rather than isolated veins. So, overall, the drilling continues to confirm the strength and continuity of that gold system at sewer.
Lel Smits: Great, and Shane Farris Gold is now preparing an updated JORC resource. How meaningful could this resource update be really in demonstrating the growth potential at Eidenberg?
Shane Menere: Yeah, so the next very important step for us is that JORC resource update. The sewer prospect currently hosts an inferred resource of 2.5 million tonnes at 3.7 grams per tonne, which equates to 296,000 ounces of gold. So, across the broader prospect, we already have 540,000 ounces of gold resource grading at 4.1 grams per tonne, which is a very strong grade globally.
So, we’re now engaged independent consultants to update that JORC and incorporate the results from our latest extension drilling. So, the upcoming resource update will include the new drill holes and should provide a clearer picture of how the system is growing as we continue that drilling.
Lel Smits: And finally, Shane, with planning already underway for the next stage of drilling at sewer, how important is this next campaign in terms of continuing to grow the Eidenberg resource base?
Shane Menere: Yeah, that’s right. We’ve already begun that planning and mobilisation into the next phase of resource expansion drilling past this extension program that we’ve just completed and calculating this upgraded JORC resource on. So, the program will comprise of 2,350 metres of targeted drilling and that’s designed specifically to expand that mineralised zone and potentially upgrade that resource even further. Focus will be on extending the gold zones, both along strike and down dip again, where the system remains completely open.
Strategy is quite straightforward. We’re first confirming the geometry of the gold system through extension drilling, then updating the JORC resource and at the same time, continuing to drill to expand that resource footprint. And given the scale and shear zone corridor of the number of mineralised veins we’re seeing, we believe there’s a significant potential to continue to grow the resource at sewer and across the project of Eidenberg as a whole.
Lel Smits: Well, Shane, I appreciate the update from Far East Gold today and look forward to hearing more as those developments come through.
Shane Menere: Thank you, Lel.
Ends