Shares in Wishbone Gold Plc (AIM: WSBN, AQSE: WSBN), the precious metals trading and exploration company, jumped 46% on news that it was getting ready to start drilling at Red Setter, one of its assets in Western Australia. After many delays, the drill rig was now scheduled to arrive today 29th November, once track maintenance is completed.
Independent consultants conducting a geochemical sampling programme at the property have already identified four new “high priority target zones” for follow-up drilling. The sampling programme is so far only 60% complete, with the remaining 40% of the tenement scheduled for testing in early 2022.
What properties does Wishbone Gold have?
Wishbone Gold has three major exploration properties in Australia and three minor prospects. The company’s flagship project is Red Setter, situated on the 57.4km2 wholly owned Exploration Licence EL45/5297 in the Paterson Range of Western Australia, just 13 km south-west of Newcrest Mining’s Telfer gold/copper mine and 60 km west of Greatland Gold/Newcrest’s world-class Havieron discovery (see our recent report here).
Also in the area is the Cottlesloe Project, which Wishbone acquired on 18 November 2021 to broaden its exploration portfolio. It has deposits visible at surface of silver and lead, metals that will enable Wishbone to tap the fast-growing market for metals essential for battery and electric car production.
Queensland and Wishbone VI
Over in Queensland, the Wishbone II project has almost doubled recently with the addition of Wishbone VI. It is situated between the two producing gold projects of Charters Towers and Ravenswood, one of the most prospective terrains in north-east Queensland, having produced more than 12m oz of gold. Leading geologist Simon Beams of Terra Search, which specialises in mineral exploration in Australia, has said Wishbone could host a Ravenswood-style deposit.
Investors are showing a keen interest in Wishbone Gold because its Red Setter Project is in an area of the Paterson Range known to have some of the best gold/copper deposits. Significant recent discoveries there, such as those of Rio Tinto at Winu and Greatland/Newcrest at Havieron, have generated a lot of excitement among prospectors and investors. Geochemical sampling programmes by other companies drilling in the same Paterson region have announced positive results and anomalies that are consistent with those being reported at the Red Setter Project.
Expect further positive news flow from Wishbone Gold
Looking ahead, we think further positive news flow is to come. A remodelling of the magnetic anomaly revealed a missed target, indicating further potential. The Wishbone consultants remodelled and plotted previous drill holes using a Voxler programme, which resulted in increased gold grades in one drill hole from <1ppb to 6ppb and copper grades from an average of 34ppm to 213ppm.Richard Poulden, Wishbone Gold’s Chairman, said: “This work extends and enhances the previous magnetic survey and new technology clearly enhances the magnetic anomaly, which shows preceding green drill holes missing our intended deeper targets. The similarity of the results to known deposits in the region is very encouraging and enables more detailed targeting of our drilling programme.”
Wishbone Gold shares are currently trading at 10.35p, giving a 1-year return of 8.95% and -36.3% YTD. Set against the second quarter excitement, when Wishbone shares almost doubled in value in one month to reach 19.00p, it is a reminder that investing in junior miners is a risky business. And even with all the fundamentals in place, including a sustained increase in global inflation, investors will likely continue to wait for positive results from the drilling programme, when it duly starts.
