Prodigy Gold validates Tanami high-grade results with PhotonAssay
Prodigy Gold’s check testing of 27 high-grade gold samples from Tanami North produced an almost exact match with the original Fire Assay results. The outcome supports PhotonAssay as a selective quality-control tool, but does not change the company’s mineral resource estimates.
- 11.56g/t average Fire Assay versus 11.57g/t PhotonAssay
- 98.8% correlation across 27 selected samples
- Tregony interval averaged 29.4g/t and 28.9g/t respectively
- PhotonAssay remains a check method, not a replacement
- Results will not update Hyperion or Tregony resources
High-grade assays withstand independent checking
Prodigy Gold NL (ASX:PRX) has put a useful number behind the credibility of its higher-grade Tanami North results: a 98.8% correlation between conventional Fire Assay and PhotonAssay across 27 selected samples from 12 reverse-circulation holes. Fire Assay averaged 11.56g/t gold, against 11.57g/t for PhotonAssay, with the difference between the combined grade totals approximately 0.1%.
The samples came from the 2025 drilling programs at the Hyperion and Tregony deposits, including the Hyperion, Tethys and Suess lodes. They were not a random slice of the campaign: Prodigy selected higher-grade samples, with original Fire Assay results ranging from 5.0g/t to 40.1g/t. The company explicitly cautions that the group is not representative of the full drilling dataset.
Tregony delivers the headline interval
The strongest comparison came from three consecutive one-metre samples in hole TGRC25007 at Tregony, between 59m and 62m. Fire Assay returned 23.1g/t, 25.1g/t and 40.1g/t gold, while PhotonAssay recorded 20.8g/t, 24.4g/t and 41.6g/t. Across the three metres, the averages were 29.4g/t and 28.9g/t respectively, a difference of approximately 1.7%.
Other high-grade checks showed a similar pattern, although not every individual sample matched closely. At the Suess lodes, one sample returned 16.7g/t by both methods, while another recorded 20.8g/t by Fire Assay and 20.9g/t by PhotonAssay. The largest percentage gap in the table was a 21.7% lower PhotonAssay result for one 8.31g/t Fire Assay sample from HYRC25005, illustrating why the company is using the technique as a check across a population rather than treating every pair as interchangeable.
Fire Assay remains the resource database standard
PhotonAssay analyses a substantially larger sample mass, approximately 500 grams in this program compared with a typical 40g or 50g Fire Assay charge. That distinction matters where gold is coarse or unevenly distributed, and Prodigy says coarse gold has previously been identified within Hyperion mineralisation. The PhotonAssay work was completed on reject material from the original Fire Assay process, with analysis conducted by Intertek in Perth.
For now, the result is validation rather than a resource upgrade. Fire Assay will remain Prodigy’s primary analytical method for consistency with its broader drilling database and Mineral Resource estimation, while PhotonAssay will be used selectively for quality assurance and quality control. The company also states that these results will not be used to update the Hyperion or Tregony Mineral Resource estimates. Further drilling is anticipated at both deposits in the upcoming field season, creating the next test of whether the assay confidence is matched by broader geological continuity.
Bottom Line?
The assay comparison removes one source of uncertainty around selected high-grade results, but the investment case still depends on future drilling, resource definition and eventual mining studies rather than this QAQC exercise alone.
Questions in the middle?
- Will future drilling confirm that the high-grade zones extend beyond the selected check samples?
- Will additional PhotonAssay work identify any material bias in lower-grade or broader drilling populations?
- Can the validated high-grade results contribute to a future resource or mine plan once geological continuity is established?
