Firetail Resources (ASX:FTL) has expanded its landholdings at the Excelsior Springs Project within the Walker Lane gold belt in Nevada with assistance from its partner Athena Gold (CSE:ATHA).
After recent staking, a Firetail crew assessed six unrecognisable workings across the project and new claims forming an additional mapping and sampling program.
The two companies entered a binging option agreement in June 2025, offering Firetail the exclusive right to acquire 80% interest in the Excelsior Project, which is expected to be completed in August as reported by Mining.com.au.
Managing Director Glenn Poole says the project hosts characteristics of “substantial” gold mineralisation across multiple deposit styles, structural settings, and host lithologies.
“The enhanced ground position we have secured gives us exposure to a trend of mapped felsic porphyritic intrusives with the potential to be goldbearing. In the region these intrusives are an important host to gold mineralisation,” Poole says.
“Within the Excelsior Project, the intrusion-related gold potential has only undergone limited exploration including geochemistry, spectral analysis and small-scale mining via adits, shafts and prospecting pits.”
The north-eastern extension is known to host mineralisation within multiple felsic intrusives, which has seen limited exploration previously.
The Buster and Blue Dick Mines are currently undergoing field mapping, geochemical sampling, and underground surveying to prepare targets for an upcoming diamond drilling program next month.
Previous intercepts returned 51.8m @ 4 grams per tonne gold from 39.6m including 6.1m @ 16.3g/t gold from 42.7m, and 33.5m @ 5.35g/t gold from 41.2m including 10.7m @ 15.99g/t gold from 41.2m.
Excelsior also recently returned up to 6,630 grams per tonne silver from a rock chip sampling program focusing on a parallel structural trend nearby the Blue Dick Mine.
Exploration has identified a targeted strike spanning 3.5km with a 200-400m width hosting silica and clay alteration with gold intercepts that will be followed up in upcoming work.
The Walker Lane Trend is prospective for gold exploration with a historical production of over 40 million ounces.
Alongside the Excelsior Springs Project, the trend hosts a range of inactive, active, and upcoming mines including AngloGold Ashanti’s (NYSE:AU) Silicon/Melin Project and Kinross Gold’s (TSX:K) Round Mountain Mine and the Comstock Project.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Firetail Resources
