G11 Resources has designed three drill holes to test the Northeast Pyrite copper-gold target in western Tasmania, close to the Great Lyell Fault and Mt Lyell deposits. The program may receive up to $120,000 in Tasmanian Government co-funding, but the geological case still rests heavily on unverified historical data.
- Three drill holes designed at Northeast Pyrite
- Up to $120,000 in EDGI co-funding
- Target sits near Mt Lyell deposits and the Great Lyell Fault
- Drilling remains subject to regulatory approvals
- Historical assays are indicative only and not JORC 2012 compliant
G11 Resources Ltd (ASX:G11) is preparing to drill a copper-gold target just 4.5 kilometres from the northernmost deposits of Tasmania’s Mt Lyell mine, with government support potentially covering up to $120,000 of the work. The Northeast Pyrite prospect has generated a coincident geophysical, geological and geochemical anomaly, although the company has not yet established economic mineralisation or a JORC 2012-compliant exploration result.
Three Holes Planned Along the Great Lyell Fault
G11 has designed three drill holes to test the hanging wall of the Great Lyell Fault within its wholly owned Sedgewick Bluff Project, held under exploration licence EL11/2025. The target lies along strike from the Mt Lyell mining centre and around 14 kilometres south along strike from the Henty Gold Mine.
The exploration thesis is built around the fault’s role as a potential fluid conduit, folded and faulted volcanic rocks, and the boundary between the Central Volcanic Complex and Tyndall Group. G11 says this geological setting hosts or is associated with deposits including Henty, Tasman Crown, Copper Chert and Lyell Comstock. Strong IP chargeability coincides with sheared, silica-sericite-pyrite-altered felsic volcanics, while an IP resistivity low sits about 200 metres west of the chargeability anomaly.
Tasmanian Grant Reduces Direct Drilling Burden
The Tasmanian Government’s Exploration Drilling Grant Initiative has awarded G11 up to $100,000 for direct drilling costs and a further $20,000 for helicopter support. Grant deeds with Mineral Resources Tasmania are still to be finalised, and the company has also submitted its drilling proposal for approval.
That support gives a small explorer a clearer path to testing a defined target, but it does not remove the operational hurdles. Drilling is planned for the upcoming summer field season and remains dependent on the necessary approvals and completion of the grant documentation.
Historical Results Carry Material Qualification
The most tangible evidence beneath Northeast Pyrite comes from a single 242.3-metre historic hole, LMD01A, drilled in 2006. It intersected pyrite-chlorite-sericite alteration and trace galena, chalcopyrite and possible sulfosalt minerals, with reported peak values including 739 parts per million copper over two metres, 2,170 parts per million lead over two metres and 1,220 parts per million zinc over two metres. Rock-chip sampling also returned up to 0.16 parts per million gold and 988 parts per million zinc.
Those figures are useful as targeting clues, not as a resource statement. G11 says the historical sampling was not subject to modern quality-control procedures, original analytical and chain-of-custody records could not be located, and the company has not independently validated the former owner’s results. True widths and grades remain unknown, and future evaluation could reduce confidence in the historical exploration results under JORC 2012.
Assays Will Decide Whether the Anomaly Matters
The planned holes are intended to answer the question the historical program left open: whether the alteration halo and IP response point toward a stronger mineralised system beneath or beside LMD01A. Until fresh core is drilled, sampled and assayed, the Northeast Pyrite prospect remains a well-positioned exploration concept rather than a discovery.
Bottom Line?
The next meaningful re-rating event is likely to be fresh assay data from the three planned holes, not the historical numbers. Approval timing, summer access and whether drilling intersects stronger mineralisation will determine if the target advances beyond an attractive geological hypothesis.
Questions in the middle?
- When will Mineral Resources Tasmania approve the proposed three-hole program?
- Will the EDGI grant deeds be finalised in time for the planned summer drilling season?
- Will new assays confirm economic copper-gold mineralisation, or merely reproduce the alteration halo seen in LMD01A?