Elk Range Mining Limited (ASX:ELK) has completed the first hole of its maiden drilling campaign at the Friday Gold Project in Idaho, United States, and logged visible gold at several additional depths, including well below the end of the historical hole it was designed to test.

According to the announcement released on 6 October 2026, diamond hole 26FRD001 was completed to its planned depth of 1,105 feet (336.8 metres), about 200 metres beyond historical hole PFR2014_06. Assays are expected between late October and early November 2026.

What was observed

The company recorded four occurrences of visible gold, at approximately 407 feet (124.1 metres), 455 feet (138.7 metres), 524.5 feet (159.9 metres) and 767 feet (233.8 metres).

Three of these lie beyond the 450-foot (137.16-metre) end of PFR2014_06. The deepest, at 767 feet, is about 317 feet (97 metres) further downhole and consists of native gold lining a narrow veinlet that extends for more than one centimetre. In each case, the company said, the gold sits within structurally deformed rock and quartz-carbonate veining, locally with pyrite-bearing sericite-silica alteration. Its table records the visible gold at every depth as "trace".

Chief executive Edward Keys said the results were better than expected and that it was rare to observe multiple distinct occurrences in a single hole. He said the pending assays and historical re-assays were only weeks away.

Why structure matters

Elk Range said the hole recovered oriented HQ3 triple-tube core with good recovery through sheared ground, giving Friday its first oriented structural dataset directly associated with visible gold. The company said the historical core retained on site does not provide continuous oriented structural data, and that comparing the new hole with the parallel historical hole will inform targeting for the rest of the programme.

Analysis: for a structurally controlled vein and shear system, knowing the orientation of gold-bearing structures can be as important as grade, because it guides where later holes are placed. The repeated association between gold, deformed veining and pyrite alteration is the kind of pattern the company is trying to test.

Important caveats

The company was explicit that the observations are not assay results. Visual estimates provide no information about grade, impurities or deleterious properties, and should not be read as continuous mineralised zones. Downhole depth comparisons with PFR2014_06 do not represent true vertical separation or establish continuity. The Friday foreign estimate referred to in the announcement is not reported under the JORC Code, and it is uncertain whether further work will allow it to be reported as a Mineral Resource.

Elk Range noted that Friday contains locally coarse, nuggety gold, so material short-range variability in assays is expected.

Next steps

A second hole, 26FRD002, is under way from a pad about 760 feet to the north-east, with 24-hour drilling from its first day. It is designed to infill historical drilling, increase drill density to support a future JORC-compliant Mineral Resource estimate, and test up-dip and southern extensions of historically reported mineralisation. The Phase 1 plan comprises eight surface diamond holes for about 2,850 metres.

Separately, the company has completed quarter-core sampling of a roughly 113-metre historically mineralised interval in PFR2014_06, using a charge of about 500 grams to compare with historical 50-gram fire assays. Paragon Laboratories is the primary laboratory, with PhotonAssay intended for gold analysis.

Elk Range's portfolio also includes the Orogrande processing plant and the Buffalo Gulch and Deadwood projects. The pending assays will test what the core shows.