Far East Gold Ltd (ASX:FEG, OTC:FEGDF) has started scout drilling at the highly prospective Victory Vein within the Aloe Rek prospect at the Woyla Copper-Gold Project in Indonesia.

The 9-hole, 1,500-metre diamond drill program is the first drilling undertaken in the prospect’s history, even though the Victory Vein was Barrick Gold’s top priority prospect when it owned the project.

Drilling milestone
“We are extremely excited to have drills turning at Aloe Rek. The Victory Vein surface sampling, mapping, and subsurface work has shown us bonanza gold grades up to 76 g/t and significant vein width up to 70 meters wide,” FarEast Gold CEO Shane Menere said.

“This milestone serves as yet another testament to the exceptional capabilities of our team in achieving in-country objectives where others have fallen short. It underscores our unwavering commitment to surpassing challenges and delivering tangible results.”

Victory Vein drilling
The drill program will test the Victory vein zone with 100-meter spaced drill holes over a strike length of 500 meters and to a vertical depth of around 120 meters.

Soil sampling outlined a gold-arsenic anomaly coincident with the vein system. The gold anomaly is up to 70 meters wide over a strike length of 900 meters with anomalous arsenic values over an area up to 200 meters wide.

Reported trench channel sample assays include 1 meter at 13.4 g/t gold, 7 meters at 4.95 g/t gold, and 23.5 g/t silver.

Far East’s mapping and rock sampling of vein material from artisanal miner workings at Aloe Rek returned gold assays of up to 76 g/t gold and 101 g/t silver within grab samples of sulphide-bearing quartz.

The results confirmed reported historical assays and identified high-grade gold and silver potential within the vein system.

Scout drilling at Aloe Rek 
Historical exploration results from Barrick in 1997 and Newcrest in 1998 led to the interpretation that Aloe Rek appeared to be a middle to high-level, low-sulphidation, epithermal vein system.

The conclusion was supported by:

1. 1. Strong gold-silver-arsenic drainage geochemistry with minor associated mercury and antimony 
   2. Strong gold-silver-arsenic rock geochemistry with very low base metal levels 
   3. The abundance of quartz veining exhibits high-level epithermal textures such as chalcedonic quartz, cruciform banding, and bladed quartz pseudomorphs after calcite
   4. Fluid inclusion analyses from petrographic samples indicated homogenization temperatures ranging from 203º-239ºC and salinity of 0.45 wt%, inferring a maximum depth of the paleo water table at about 250 meters, which is favorable for the occurrence of high-grade mineralization

The historical interpretation is corroborated by mapping and sampling by the Far East, which confirmed the occurrence of bladed quartz textures and high-grade gold and silver within samples of the quartz veins collected from artisanal mining pits.

The results also confirm the presence of high arsenic and antimony within the vein system, suggesting that the veins (as exposed) reflect formation at a relatively high level in the epithermal system.

Interpretation of recent UAV magnetic survey data indicates that the Aloe Rek prospect is reflected by an area of intense low-magnetics, which infers the veins are associated with intense argillic alteration.

Image source: proactive Investors
Source: https://www.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/1042594/far-east-gold-has-diamond-drill-spinning-at-priority-aloe-rek-target-1042594.html