Albion Resources (ASX: ALB) is preparing to launch a maiden drilling campaign at its Gidgee gold project in Western Australia after reconnaissance rock-chip sampling returned high-grade gold assays, headlined by a result of 280.3 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.

The company has received approvals for the maiden drilling campaign, which comprises approximately 6,000 metres of air-core drilling and 1,000 metres of reverse circulation (RC) drilling and is designed to systematically test priority gold targets across the project. In exploration programs of this type, air-core drilling is typically used as a lower-cost, first-pass method to test geochemical targets through shallow cover, while RC drilling provides deeper, higher-quality bedrock samples.

The assays follow reconnaissance geological mapping and rock-chip sampling recently completed by Albion across a number of priority target areas at Gidgee as part of preparations for the upcoming drilling program. A total of 35 rock-chip samples were collected and submitted for assay, with six returning gold grades greater than 1.0 g/t Au. The standout result of 280.3 g/t gold came from the Phar Lap prospect, while other significant results included 4.79 g/t, 4.44 g/t, 1.58 g/t and 1.57 g/t gold from various prospects throughout the project. As with all rock-chip sampling, the samples are selective, taken from outcrop and vein material rather than a systematic grid; while they demonstrate the presence of high-grade gold at surface, they are not necessarily representative of average grades across a target, and establishing grade, width and continuity at depth requires drilling.

Chief Executive Officer Peter Goh said the new results demonstrate the occurrence of high-grade gold at surface across several areas of the Gidgee project. He noted that a number of the anomalous rock-chip samples show a spatial association with previously defined gold-in-soil anomalies and interpreted regional shear zones, a geological setting consistent with the structurally controlled, shear-zone-hosted gold deposits that are a mainstay of Western Australia's goldfields.

According to the CEO, the integration of the new rock-chip results with Albion's existing geochemical and geophysical datasets is providing additional geological information ahead of drilling and has further refined a number of priority targets, including the German Well South, Wilson Splay and Tokey Central areas, as well as the previously undrilled Phar Lap and Tokey North prospects.

The 280.3 g/t result at the Phar Lap prospect was collected from strongly weathered, iron-oxide-rich quartz vein material adjacent to historical workings, indicating the prospect area has seen earlier prospecting or mining activity.

ALB shares were steady at 5.5¢, with a market capitalisation of $7.985 million. With approvals in hand, the maiden program will provide the first drill test of the priority targets, with assay results from the air-core and RC drilling expected to show whether the surface gold indications extend along strike and at depth.