Elk Range Finds Seven Visible Gold Occurrences at Friday

Seven Gold Observations in Maiden Hole

Elk Range Mining (ASX:ELK) has found visible native gold seven times in its first drill hole at the Friday Gold Project in Idaho, giving the company an encouraging geological signal before the more consequential laboratory results arrive.

The observations in hole 26FRD001 are tightly grouped between 122.45 metres and 122.55 metres downhole. The gold appears as coarse, bright grains associated with deformed quartz-feldspar-carbonate veins, pyrite and locally healed fractures or crackle-breccia textures. Elk Range says the findings are the first visible gold identified in drilling completed by the company.

Parallel Holes Add Structural Information

The location is significant mainly because it can be compared with nearby historical hole PFR2014_06. That broadly parallel hole contained a separate visible-gold occurrence at about 137 metres, placing the new observation roughly 14.5 metres up-hole. The collars are approximately eight metres apart at surface, while the projected hole traces are less than 10 metres apart at the historical visible-gold depth.

Elk Range is using the two holes to refine its understanding of where coarse gold sits within the Friday system. The company says the visible gold in both holes is associated with similar structures and vein settings, although the different downhole positions do not establish continuity, true width or grade.

Drilling Moves Beyond Historical End Depth

26FRD001 has now drilled beyond the 137.16-metre end of PFR2014_06 and is continuing into an area with limited previous drilling. The hole is designed to extend approximately 200 metres beyond the historical hole, testing the interpreted continuation of the mineralised system below four levels of historical underground development.

The broader Phase 1 programme comprises eight planned surface diamond holes totalling about 2,850 metres. Friday is the initial drilling focus within Elk Range’s wider Idaho portfolio, which also includes the Buffalo Gulch and Deadwood prospects and land along the Orogrande Shear Zone.

Assays Remain the Key Test

The headline number needs careful handling: seven observations within 0.10 metres are not seven mineralised zones, and the amount of visible gold cannot be used as a proxy for grade. The relevant 26FRD001 core has not yet been sampled or assayed.

Elk Range expects initial assays from the maiden drilling in late October or early November 2026. Results are also pending from Photon Assay testing of roughly 113 metres of quarter-core sampled from the historical PFR2014_06 interval. Those results should provide the first analytical test of whether the new geological observations translate into meaningful gold grades, particularly in a system where coarse or nuggety gold may create short-range sampling variability.