iTech Minerals (ASX:ITM) has validated portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) as a rapid exploration tool at its Reynolds Range Project in the Northern Territory.
The company collected 182 soil samples across the Sabre and Falchion prospects, returning peak values of 12.1 grams per tonne gold (Au) and 9.1% antimony (Sb).
Laboratory results show 48 samples returned greater than 0.1g/t Au, including nine samples exceeding 1g/t Au, and 21 samples returned greater than 0.1% Sb.
Field-portable XRF results demonstrate strong correlations with laboratory assays for arsenic (ρ = 0.91), antimony (ρ = 0.87), and lead (ρ = 0.81), confirming the technique’s reliability for first-pass targeting.
Arsenic emerges as the most effective pathfinder for gold mineralisation, with pXRF arsenic correlating with laboratory gold at ρ = 0.83. Antimony shows moderate-to-strong correlation with gold at ρ = 0.72, supporting a coherent gold-antimony-arsenic epizonal mineral system.
“These results are a game-changer for how we explore at Reynolds Range. The process has demonstrated that pXRF soil geochemistry gives us reliable, real-time vectors to gold-antimony mineralisation in the field, at a fraction of the cost and turnaround time of laboratory-only programs,” Managing Director Mike Schwarz says.
The soil program identified a new mineralisation zone at Falchion, extending strike length to over 180m.
This anomaly includes the program’s highest antimony result of 9.1% in sample FS26070, alongside strongly anomalous arsenic up to 1,011 parts per million and gold up to 314 parts per billion.
“With 13km of prospective structures identified in the recently flown drone magnetics, and the broader 42km Stafford Gold Trend beyond that, we now have a tool that lets us screen this enormous search space quickly and effectively,” Schwarz adds.
The company plans to roll out systematic pXRF-supported soil geochemistry across priority targets along the Stafford Gold Trend, using real-time pXRF arsenic supported by antimony and lead for in-field anomaly definition.
Drilling is due to recommence at Reynolds Range on 20 July 2026, with results from the first phase expected in the next two to three weeks.
An Australian explorer, iTech Minerals is advancing a portfolio of critical minerals projects, including the Eyre Peninsula Graphite Project in South Australia, alongside its gold-antimony exploration at the Reynolds Range Project in the Northern Territory.
Write to JC Villarba at Mining.com.au
Images: iTech Minerals
