First Development Resources (AIM:FDR), the Australian-focused exploration company listed on AIM, has begun a priority soil-sampling programme across the Red Handed, Red Hackle and part of the Giles target areas at its Lander West gold prospect in the Northern Territory.
Around 620 field stations are planned, with samples sent for laboratory analysis of gold and associated pathfinder elements including arsenic and antimony, to be assessed alongside existing geology and geophysics data.
The programme follows the completion of Stage I drilling at Lander West, part of the company's wider Selta Project, which is also prospective for rare-earth elements, uranium and lithium.
That first stage comprised eight reverse-circulation holes for 1,593 metres, with hole 26LWR08 returning 7 metres at 0.40 g/t gold from 50 metres downhole, including 2 metres at 0.98 g/t, in sulphide-bearing dolerite.
A historical hole around 834 metres away, RHB108, had previously returned 16 metres at 0.30 g/t gold from 12 metres, including 2 metres at 1.93 g/t, though the company says continuity between the two intersections has yet to be established.
First Development has now agreed terms with a drilling contractor for a second stage, Phase I Stage II, to test along strike and down dip from the more prospective Stage I intersections at Red Handed, with hole locations, depths and programme size still being finalised.
"Completing Stage I drilling and confirming gold mineralisation in bedrock at Red Handed was an important milestone," said chief executive Tristan Pottas, adding that Stage II aims "to identify areas of higher gold grade and greater mineralised thickness, and to test whether the mineralisation is continuous."
Both the soil-sampling and Stage II drilling programmes will be funded from existing cash resources, with mobilisation for drilling subject to contractor availability.
The company said it expects to update the market on the drilling plan and mobilisation schedule once finalised, and on results from each programme as they become available.