Has Trek Metals already drilled the discovery hole at Christmas Creek?

Down-hole work at Trek’s Martin prospect has confirmed the value of high-grade gold intercepts from last year, showing they are related to a system with scale.

Trek Metals believes the Christmas Creek project has all the ingredients for a significant greenfields discovery. Pic: Getty Images

Special Report: Trek Metals says new down-hole survey data from its Christmas Creek project in WA’s Kimberley region indicates it may have already uncovered a significant high-grade greenfields gold discovery.

• Drilling at Christmas Creek last year had returned assays such as 10m at 12.66g/t gold from 59m and 10m at 7.34g/t from 94m
• Recent down-hole surveying confirms these are related to a series of stacked veins, indicating scale potential at this greenfields project
• This could be the beginning of a significant discovery with analogies to the major Callie deposit in the nearby Tanami Province

Trek – which is led by the founding directors of Pilbara Minerals, Neil Biddle, John Young and Tony Leibowitz – captured the market’s attention late last year with standout hits of 10m at 12.66g/t gold from 59m and 10m at 7.34g/t gold from 94m within two extensive trends.

The results transformed the outlook for the former Newmont-owned project, which Trek added to its portfolio in late 2023 given its potential to host large-scale discoveries. 

Recent data from a downhole televiewer survey at Martin has now shown that the results from last year represent a series of stacked veins with near true width.

This is important as it shows scale potential, consistent with the sort of company-changing discovery that Trek is targeting at Christmas Creek.

The area was initially targeted as a structurally interesting intersection of two major Proterozic orogens, the King Leopold and the Halls Creek, with the large lithospheric architecture (known as G3) that is theorised to control much of the gold mineralisation in the well-endowed Tanami region nearby. 

Another key aspect for targeting this particular part of Western Australia is the lack of surface geology, with much of the project obscured by recent sand cover, as is the case at Martin. 

Trek CEO Derek Marshall says the risk profile of Christmas Creek has swung from a high risk, data-poor, grassroots theory to one with direct drill evidence of an orogenic gold system that is capable of hosting significant grades and scale potential. 

“Are we sitting on a major discovery?” Marshall said. 

“Our team certainly thinks so, drawing analogies to the discovery of the world-class Callie gold deposit in the prolific Tanami region. 

“We were excited after receiving the assay results last year, but I think it’s fair to say the down-hole televiewer data has elevated the potential of this project to a whole new level, suggesting we could be on the cusp of a very significant discovery.”

The company now believes Christmas Creek could host a potential extension of the prolific Granites-Tanami Orogen with metasediments in the area showing a correlation to the geological sequences that host Newmont’s globally significant Tanami Gold Mines.

Target identification underway 

“The broad, high-grade intercepts at Martin confirm the potential for a significant orogenic gold system and, together with recently acquired down-hole data, indicate the presence of a series of stacked veins,” Marshall added.

“These results are highly significant as it proves that the system at Martin can not only host high-grade gold, but it is also showing evidence of scale potential, and ultimately that is a key driver of value creation. 

“I feel the project has reached a critical milestone, where we have gone from theoretical prospectivity to proven prospectivity. 

“We are gearing up to get the rig spinning at Martin and if we get similarly positive indications we are onto a large, high-grade gold system then expect there to be more rigs arriving in short succession.”

This article was developed in collaboration with Trek Metals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing. 

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.