PEAK ASSET: MORNING WRAP 4 December: ASX to jump higher | S&P/ASX 200 futures were tipping a 65-point, or 0.9 per cent jump | Gold: US$2,071.25 (+1.68%) |

December’s upcoming drilling is a fairly even mix of gold, base metals and critical metals, though uranium exploration is starting to pick up.

Here are the companies that are starting (or likely to start) drilling in December divided first by Australian states followed by those operating overseas.

Western Australia

Following a $5m capital raising, Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR)  plans to complete ~5,000m reverse circulation drill program in Q4 2023 across its +1Moz Menzies and Laverton projects in WA’s Leonora-Laverton district.

This will be followed by comprehensive infill and extensional RC and diamond drilling campaigns early in the new year at the Cork Tree Well deposit in Laverton and across the Menzies gold project for inclusion within the mine restart pre-feasibility study.

Information from these programs will provide details for mine design and processing pathways to reduce risk, streamline further workflows, and optimise project outcomes.

Krakatoa Resources (ASX:KTA) plans to start drilling in December to test the extent of high-grade lithium within a 1.3km by 500m halo at its Kinga Tamba project.

This is part of a broader reverse circulation drill program that was expanded by a whopping five times from an initial 1,200m to 6,000m after discovering a continuous and up to 39m thick pegmatite under sampled rock chips that had assayed up to 4.3% Li2O.

Drilling is expected to define the source of widespread anomalous lithium in soils at the project.

Over in the West Yilgarn, NickelX (ASX:NKL) is preparing to carry out a 1,700m RC drill program at its Dalwallinu nickel-copper-PGE project

NKL had recently defined a combined 12km of strike of geochemical anomalies at the project.

The highest priority target assays – DEM1 and DEM2 – represent some of the highest PGE assays (73.7 parts per billion platinum and palladium) the West Yilgarn has shown, as well as significant and coincident anomalous values of up to 466 parts per million (ppm) nickel and 843ppm copper.

Testing the underground potential of the Sand King deposit within its Davyhurst gold project is the objective of Ora Banda (ASX:OBM) and its 33-hole drill program that is due to begin in December.

Recent drilling to follow-up on historical drilling from the 1980s demonstrated the potential for mineralisation to continue at depth with assays such as:

• 14.3m at 8.3g/t including 12m at 9.8g/t;
• 3m at 7g/t;
• 4.9m at 3.6g/t; and
• 2.9m at 9g/t.

This expanded the lode system at Sand King to over 800m of strike and for more than 200m below surface with the potential for further depth extensions.

Reach Resources (ASX:RR1) has doubled its Phase 2 drilling program which is set to kick off shortly to follow the plunge of mineralisation at Bonzer – the top-ranked prospect within its Morrissey Hill lithium project in WA – and test other pegmatite targets.

Recent drilling testing a ~500m strike length within the central part of Bonzer pegmatite system from surface to a total depth of 400m down-hole had intersected highly-fractionated and fertile pegmatites indicative of lithium system.

Analysis of this drilling indicated that it might have struck the halo of a higher-grade lithium zone.

Spartan Resources (ASX:SPR) has moved to rapidly unlock the potential of Never Never, which comprises a current resource of 721,200oz at an average grade of 5.85g/t – and where earlier last week they reported a massive drill hit of 1,093g/t gold.

Investors have responded in kind, sending the stock from 11c to 42c since March – an impressive 280% gain amidst what has been a tough year generally for gold mining and exploration companies.

Proceeds from the placement will to be used to underpin an expanded exploration campaign at Dalgaranga, which will kick off with drilling at Never Never Deeps in December to grow the high-grade resource beyond the resource estimate update.

Source:Stockhead