Elk Range Mining has identified coarse visible gold in retained historical core from its Friday Gold Project in Idaho, inside an interval previously reported at 26.54 g/t gold. The observation is encouraging but not an assay result, leaving Photon Assay results and current drilling assays as the decisive tests.
- Coarse visible gold identified at approximately 137 metres in historical hole PFR2014_06
- Historical interval reported at 5.30 metres grading 26.54 g/t gold
- Quarter-core samples submitted for modern Photon Assay testing
- Current hole 26FRD001 drilling on day and night shifts
- Photon Assay and maiden drilling results expected in late October or early November 2026
Visible Gold Found at the Historical High-Grade Zone
Elk Range Mining Limited (ASX:ELK) has found coarse visible gold in the final metre of historical drill hole PFR2014_06 at its Friday Gold Project in Idaho, placing a striking geological observation directly beside the company’s first modern drill hole.
The gold was identified at approximately 137 metres downhole, within a 5.30-metre interval that a previous operator reported at 26.54 g/t gold from 131.86 metres to 137.16 metres. The broader historical intercept was reported at 112.78 metres grading 5.22 g/t gold from 24.38 metres. Those figures were generated by a previous operator, not Elk Range, and are being cited for geological context.
Photon Assay Set to Test Coarse-Gold Variability
Elk Range has quarter-core sampled the approximately 113-metre historically mineralised interval for Photon Assay, using an approximately 500-gram sample charge. The work is intended to provide a modern analytical comparison with the historical results and help assess whether coarse or nuggety gold is creating short-range variability in reported grades.
The company says the historical material had not previously been sampled using modern analytical techniques. Its review found that available records for PFR2014_06 showed routine 50-gram fire assays with an atomic-emission-spectroscopy finish, while the retained core and original records did not specifically document the visible gold now identified.
26FRD001 Extends Beyond the Historical Hole
Drilling is continuing in 26FRD001, which is operating across day and night shifts. The hole is designed to run broadly parallel to PFR2014_06, with the projected traces less than 10 metres apart around the visible-gold interval, before extending approximately 200 metres beyond the historical end-of-hole.
That extension will test an area of limited previous drilling and provide a new pierce point beyond the known historical coverage. The broader Phase 1 programme comprises eight planned surface diamond holes totalling approximately 2,850 metres, although the company has not reported any assay results from the current programme.
Assays Remain the Critical Test
Elk Range’s own caution is important: visible gold is a geological observation, not a substitute for laboratory analysis. It does not establish the grade, continuity, true width or economic significance of the mineralisation that may be encountered in 26FRD001.
Photon Assay results from the quarter-core sampling are expected in late October or early November 2026, around the same period as initial results from the current drilling. The comparison will matter less for whether gold is present than for whether modern sampling can reproduce, qualify or materially reshape confidence in the historical high-grade interval.
Bottom Line?
The visible gold improves the geological narrative at Friday, but the investment case still turns on whether Photon Assay and 26FRD001 establish repeatable grade and continuity beyond the historical hole.
Questions in the middle?
- Will Photon Assay broadly reconcile with the historical 26.54 g/t interval, or reveal substantial coarse-gold variability?
- Will 26FRD001 confirm mineralisation beside PFR2014_06 and extend it into the additional 200 metres of limited drilling?
- Can the combined modern drilling, structural data and re-assaying support Elk Range’s pathway towards a JORC-compliant Mineral Resource?