E79 Resources (ESNR) - Gold Exploration in Australia Goldfields

E79 Resources Corp. is an Australian gold exploration company focused on its Beaufort and Myrtleford properties in the Victorian Goldfields of Australia. The Beaufort property holds the potential to host a hard rock alluvial goldfield along a structure that is known to host gold in the region. The Myrtleford property consists of 70 past-producing gold mines with the potential to host Fosterville-type gold mineralization. The bulk of the property’s historic mining stopped at the water table.

Patrick Donnelly, the president and CEO of E79 Resources Corp. joined the company in May 2022. Donnelly holds more than 30 years of experience in the precious metals, base metals and diamonds industry, and started his career as an exploration geologist in Canada. Donnelly most recently served as the Vice President of Corporate Communications and Development for Trilogy Metals Inc. He was also the President and Co-Founder of First Mining Gold Corporation where he led the company’s initial public offering as well as its listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

E79 Resources Corp. announced in May 2022 that it had commenced with an expanded drill program at its Myrtleford Gold project’s Happy Valley prospect. The drill program will target three prospects, which are all within 500 m of the project’s high-grade gold mineralisation.  The company released assay results from diamond drilling conducted at the Happy Valley prospect at the beginning of June 2022. The assay results show the interception of a broad zone of mineralisation at a depth of approximately 400 m below the surface of the deposit and 200 m below the historical mine workings. The encountered mineralisation is the deepest intercept encountered at the Happy Valley deposit. The mineralisation also serves as validation to the company’s theory that the deposit hosts significant mineralisation at depth. The highlights of the encountered mineralisation contain 5.8 g/t of gold over 3 m, 5.23 g/t of gold over an intercept of 0.6 m and 0.9 g/t of gold mineralisation over an intercept of 37.3 m.

E79 Resources Corp. announced on the 13th of July 2022, that it had encountered high-grade gold interceptions at its inaugural drill program at the Twist Creek area. The area is located 40 km north of the Happy Valley prospect and encountered high-grade gold mineralisation, as well as elevated base metals, in all three drill holes conducted at the Scandinavian prospect of the area.

Management

Patrick Donnelly joined the company in May 2022 and serves as the president and CEO of E79 Resources Corp. Donnelly has been involved in mineral exploration, capital markets, corporate development and investor relations for approximately 30 years. He holds a bachelor of science degree in Geology from the University of British Columbia and a master of business administration (MBA) from the University of Toronto. Donnelly has been involved with various junior mining operations in the past and most recently served as the Vice President of Corporate Communications and Development for Trilogy Metals Inc. before joining E79 Resources Corp.

Shane Mele is the Vice President of Exploration for the E79 Resources Corp. and has more than 25 years of experience in Gold exploration and mining operations across Australia. Mele formed part of the team accredited with the discovery and delivery of a maiden gold resource for Navarre Minerals within the Stawell Gold Corridor located in Western Victoria.

Peter De Vries is the operations manager of the company and has more than 30 years of experience in gold and base metal deposits globally. The past 15 years have seen De Vries focus on exploration and development projects in Victoria. He has developed an intimate knowledge of the operation and geology of resource projects located in the Woods Point Walhalla goldfields.

Gavin Cooper rounds out the company’s management team and serves as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for E79 Resources Corp. Cooper has more than 35 years of experience providing strategic and financial advice as well as corporate administrative services. He has also held senior positions at various public and private companies.

The Board of the E79 Resources Corp. consists of Vince Sorace, serving as Chairman, and the company founder Martin Pawlitschek who serves as director alongside Steven Butler and Grant Wechsel. Dusko Ljubojevic who is also a founder of the company serves as an advisor alongside Dennis Arne who advises the company regarding its exploration initiatives.

Myrtleford and Beaufort properties

The Myrtleford property of the company is located in the northeast of Victoria, an Australian state, approximately 290 km northeast of the city of Melbourne. The property holds a land position of approximately 418 km2 and lies within a northwest-trending belt of alluvial and hard rock gold mines, which have produced approximately 6.3 million ounces of gold in the past.

The property hosts more than 70 past-producing high-grade underground gold mines, with grades higher than 31 g/t of gold commonly encountered. The mineralisation of the property is similar to that found in the Bendigo zone of central Victoria, which hosts the Bendigo, Ballarat and Fosterville gold deposits.

The Beaufort property of the company is a granted exploration tenement located southwest of Victoria, approximately 145 km west of Melbourne. The area around the property has been extensively mined in the past for gold and has historically produced approximately 1.16 million ounces of gold. The region has delivered gold nuggets of up to 400 ounces in neighbouring alluvial fields in the past, with the Beaufort property holding the potential to host a hard rock alluvial goldfield due to it laying next to a structure that is known to host gold in the region.

Myrtleford property expanded exploration drilling program

The company announced on the 5th of May 2022, that it had commenced with an expanded exploration drilling program at the Happy Valley prospect, located in the southern area of the Myrtleford project. The expanded drill program will target three prospects which have never been drilled and lay within a 500 m radius of the initial high-grade gold discovery at the project.

E79 Resources Corp. will also test the mineralisation below the historical workings of the Champion/Franklin reef structure. The company has also been able to identify numerous key target areas for initial shallow drilling through mapping and rock chip sampling.

The drill program aims to identify multiple shoots of mineralisation within close proximity to the high-grade gold zone at the Happy Valley deposit, which has previously shown mineralisation of up to 160.45 g/t of gold over an intercept of 11.10 m as well as 32.07 g/t of gold over an intercept of 5.35 m.

Mineralisation at depth at Happy Valley

E79 Resources Corp. announced on the 8th of June 2022, that it had intercepted a broad zone of mineralisation at a depth of approximately 400 m below the surface of the Happy Valley deposit and 200 m below the historical mine workings. The encountered mineralisation is the deepest intercept encountered at the Happy Valley deposit to date.

The encountered mineralisation also serves as validation to the company’s theory that the deposit hosts significant mineralisation at depth. The highlights of the encountered mineralisation consist of 5.8 g/t of gold over 3 m, 5.23 g/t of gold over an intercept of 0.6 m and 0.9 g/t of gold mineralisation over an intercept of 37.3 m. The company has also encountered quartz-sulphide-bearing structures at the Franklin/Champion Reef structures through its drilling initiatives.

Donnelly explains that the potential of the project is immense, with the Happy Valley corridor, which has shown notable mineralisation to date, being one of many areas showing such potential:

“Happy Valley is only one of the dozens of areas with those kinds of grades and widths. And for example, we're currently drilling, we're just wrapping up Happy Valley right now. We're also up at Twist Creek and again, we're seeing visible Gold.”

Twist Creek inaugural drill program

E79 Resources Corp. announced on the 13th of July 2022, that it had encountered high-grade gold mineralisation through the conducting of its inaugural drill program at the Twist Creek area. The area is located 40 km north of the Happy Valley prospect and has shown both high-grade gold mineralisation, as well as elevated base metals, in all three drill holes conducted at the Scandinavian prospect of the area.

The highlights of the encountered high-grade mineralisation include 17 g/t of gold over an intercept of 1.6 m as well as 43 g/t of gold, 25.5 g/t of silver, 1.3% lead and 0.25% zinc over an intercept of 0.6 m. The initial drill results of the Scandinavian prospect confirm the extension of gold mineralisation beneath the historical workings of the area. The mineralisation remains open at depth.

Future

E79 Resources Corp. boasts a market capitalisation of approximately AUD$ 13 million as well as a cash position of approximately AUD$ 7 million.  The company’s cash position will enable it to conduct approximately 15,000 m to 16,000 m of drilling at its properties in the next year, with no need to raise any funds.  

The company plans to continue with the exploration drilling of its Manager’s Hill prospect at the Happy Valley deposit. The exploration drilling at the deposit aims to enable the creation of a 3D geological model once the interpretation of the drill cores and assays have been completed and received.

The inaugural drill program at the Sydney prospect of the Twist Creek area will be followed up with the area’s Excelsior target. E79 Resources Corp. plans on continuing with first-pass rock chip sampling and mapping programs at the deposit and will continue along the 7km-long trend once the company has concluded with its exploration drilling initiatives.

The company further plans to commence with an exploration program at its Beaufort property in the near future. The company has concluded with the structural mapping of the project as well as the review of various other factors, which has enabled it to identify various near-surface drill targets. The exploration program will consist of rock chip sampling, from where the company will continue with shallow drilling at the property.

Donnelly sums up the company’s exploration initiatives as follows:

“I think you have to just keep the drill turning, manage your cash, keep an eye on that and the beauty is drilling costs in this area are not very high. We're drilling in Australian dollars, we don't have man camps, we don't have helicopters. We can drill pretty cheaply, keep the drill turning, keep the results coming out there and keep connecting the dots.”

To find out more, go to the E79 Resources website