Perpetua Resources (TSE:PPTA) has identified a gold–tungsten zone during its first exploration drilling campaign in nearly a decade at the Stibnite Gold Project in Idaho, US.
Drilling in the Clark Tunnel Fault Zone, along the southeastern edge of the permitted Yellow Pine reserve pit, returned 21.3m @ 3.20 grams per tonne gold (Au) and 0.9% tungsten (W) from 24m in hole SB597. This included 7m @ 7.1g/t Au and 0.3% W from 34m.
Other Yellow Pine results include 6.4m @ 16.2g/t Au and 1.7% antimony (Sb) from surface in hole SB580, and 15m @ 6.3g/t Au and 0.8% Sb from 11m in SB582.
At the nearby Huckleberry Fault Zone, widely spaced drilling intersected 69.6m @ 0.8g/t Au from 61m. The zone lies beside the Yellow Pine reserve pit, spans more than 100m in width, and has been traced over 500m of strike.
Meanwhile, drilling at the Hangar Flats deposit returned 3m @ 14.5g/t Au from 82m. Field portable X-ray fluorescence readings from separate holes also identified antimony-tungsten intervals, including 22.9m @ 3.2% Sb and 1.2% W from 330m, and 9.8m @ 8.3% Sb and 4.6% W from 260m. The readings are not laboratory assays.
CEO Jon Cherry says the company is prioritising higher-grade targets within its three permitted pits that could supplement the existing mine plan.
“Our priority is testing higher-grade gold and antimony targets within our three permitted pits that could supplement our existing Stibnite Gold Project mine plan with the aim of sustaining or exceeding our estimated annual average production level of 463,000 gold ounces beyond our first four years of production,” Cherry says.
Perpetua says it plans at least 10,000m of core drilling in 2026, with about 5,800m completed and being prepared for assay. Four rigs are operating across the project.
The company has also applied for US government grant funding to investigate tungsten beneath Hangar Flats, although no funding has been committed. Any tungsten development outside the permitted project would require further environmental review and approvals.
The Stibnite district was the largest US tungsten producer between 1941 and 1945. Perpetua says renewed interest in the metal follows Chinese export restrictions introduced in February 2025.
Write to France Pinzon at Mining.com.au
Images: Perpetua Resources
