Golden Horse Minerals (ASX: GHM) has achieved early success at its newly acquired Hopes Hill project near Southern Cross in Western Australia.

The company says the project – which it acquired from Emerald Resources (ASX: EMR) in December 2024 – is already providing evidence of both wide and high-grade zones of mineralisation.

Initial assays from the first four holes of Phase 1 drilling at Hopes Hill have returned promising intersections such as 61 metres at 2.5 grams per tonne gold from 91m.

Multiple targets reported

Managing director Nicholas Anderson said the early results demonstrate the enormous potential of the area.

“Considering we only listed on the ASX in December 2024, it is pleasing that we have already reported multiple targets from our geochemical survey, achieved excellent results at the Hakes Find project and now unveiled some exceptional intercepts at Hopes Hill,” Mr Anderson said.

“As the Phase 1 drill program continues over the next three to four weeks, our aim is to validate the historic drill results, refine our targeting practices to allow for further follow-up resource development and target depth and down-plunge opportunities in the high-grade zones that we are seeing in the current drilling.”

Extensive tenement package

Hopes Hill was part of the company’s purchase of an extensive tenement package spread over 360 square kilometres in the south-eastern part of WA.

This block also included the historical Hopes Hill open-pit mine, which is estimated to be approximately 1,300m long with a maximum depth of around 90m.

The company commenced drilling adjacent to the open pit in late January as part of a 22-hole program.

A total of five holes were drilled within the Hopes Hill central zone and a further two in the southern zone of the mineralisation.

Optimised drill planning

Golden Horse dispatched samples from the first four holes to allow the company to optimise drill planning and targeting based on the initial results.

Results from one of the holes have confirmed historic drill intersections immediately below the Hopes Hill pit, supporting follow-up drill targeting both at depth and along strike within this broad zone of mineralisation.

The company said that early indications based on the seven holes drilled (with assay results returned for four) suggest broad zones of mineralisation maintaining continuity below the Hopes Hill pit.

It intends to test these further as drilling continues over the coming three to four weeks.

Prospect definition

Golden Horse intends to assess its total prospectivity in the coming year, utilising its historical exploration database along with targeting tools such as geophysics, soil geochemistry, field geology and interpretation.

Along with the goal of establishing an initial resource inventory from its more advanced projects, Golden Horse intends to generate a range of prospective greenfields and brownfields targets.

The company expects these targets to increase exploration efficiencies and maximise the potential for future discovery.