Elk Range Mining has struck visible native gold - gold that occurs naturally in its pure metallic elemental form- at the Friday gold project in Idaho, USA, with logging identifying seven separate instances of the precious metal in the first hole.

The company says the maiden diamond hole intersected coarse, bright grains between 122.45 metres and 122.55m downhole. The observations represent the first visible gold identified in completed drilling and showcase a compelling start to the inaugural campaign. The encouraging find came from the first hole in a planned eight-hole, 2850-metre phase one program at Friday, the subject of Elk Range’s initial focus at its broader Idaho gold project.

Drilling was designed to run parallel to, and then extend beyond, a historical hole that also contained visible gold. Intriguingly, the new visible gold sits nearly 14.5m higher up the hole than the historical occurrence despite the two drill traces being less than 10m apart at that depth.

For geos, seeing visible gold at different positions in two nearby holes can provide a significant piece of the puzzle. It often delivers crucial new information on the orientation and structural controls of the coarse gold in the orebody, helping to build a more accurate 3D model of the mineralised system.

The company says the gold is associated with structurally deformed quartz-feldspar-carbonate veining and pyrite mineralisation. At hand-specimen scale, the native gold is seen in pinched vein domains, pressure-shadow sites and along vein edges, a classic geological setting for hosting high-grade gold.

Highlighting the project’s potential, Elk Range also pushed the drill bit 200m beyond the final depth of the historical hole, venturing into an area with limited previous drilling. Notably, geological logging in this new territory continues to identify the same types of structures and textures associated with the visible gold seen higher up the hole.

Finding visible gold seven times in our very first drill hole is an exciting start to Elk Range’s maiden drilling campaign. The hole is still being drilled, and importantly, we are continuing to see the types of rocks we want to see.

To get a better handle on the project’s geology, Elk Range has prepared the historical core for re-assaying using modern photon assay technology. This method uses a much larger 500-gram sample charge compared to the historical 50-gram fire assays, which should provide a more representative grade in a system where gold is known to occur in nuggety or coarse form.

Importantly, Idaho is re-emerging as a mining hotspot, with major developments such as Perpetua Resources’ 4.8-million-ounce Stibnite gold project, 150 kilometres to the south, recently clearing key permitting and court hurdles - a strong signal the state is open for mining business and attracting serious capital.

Elk Range’s Friday project comes with an extensive drilling database pointing to a high-grade gold system. While not yet JORC-compliant, a foreign resource estimate for the historic mine outlined 758,000 tonnes grading a cracking 5.91 grams per tonne gold for 144,000 ounces.

Friday’s brownfields status is another big tick. The project already comes with underground development and infrastructure, including the permitted 50,000-tonne-per-annum Orogrande processing plant and assay laboratory.

The previous owner poured a hefty US$40 million (A$56M) plus into the project and Elk Range believes the plant could be restarted within 12 months, offering a potentially low-capital pathway to production.

For Elk Range, Friday may only be the opening act. The company’s broader Idaho gold project includes Buffalo Gulch and Deadwood, carrying respective non-JORC-compliant gold resources of 140,000 and 59,000 ounces, and could potentially host several other significant gold systems. Together, the prospects add district-scale potential along the prolific Orogrande shear zone.

Clocking visible gold in the first hole of a maiden campaign is about as good a start as an explorer such as Elk Range could hope for. While assays are always the final arbiter, seeing the yellow stuff in the core is a powerful early indicator. With the rods still turning and batches of core from both the new and historical holes heading to the lab, punters will likely be laser-focused on the results, slated for late October or early November.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au