Following receipt of regulatory approvals, Auric Mining has fired up the drill rigs at its flagship Munda gold project near Widgiemooltha, 82 kilometres south of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia’s Goldfields. The multi-pronged drilling campaign is designed to expand the recently upgraded 192,000-ounce Munda Resource, underpin an ore reserve estimate and move the project a step closer to its planned 2027 mining restart.

The 135-hole reverse circulation (RC) drilling program will cover 12,900m, targeting the western strike extension of the existing Munda resource where the orebody remains open. It will test for additional gold mineralisation to depths of 120m beyond the proposed open pit.

Earlier drilling along the western trend returned high-grade intersections including 13m grading 14.62 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 60m, 5m at 3.46g/t gold from 87m and 4m at 3.34g/t gold from 46m. The target mineralisation is hosted within mafic volcanic rocks adjacent to an ultramafic contact mimicking the same geological setting that hosts the wider deposit.

The work builds on the success of the Munda starter pit, the first stage of mining, which exceeded its production budget by 46 per cent recovering 8,886 ounces of gold. Grade-control drilling completed during mining looks to have validated the geological model and supported a subsequent 32 per cent increase in the Munda resource giving management greater confidence in its plans to develop the larger main pit.

Four geotechnical diamond drill holes have also commenced to refine pit wall designs, building on knowledge gained from the starter pit. The work will support an ore reserve estimate due later this year as the project moves into detailed mine planning and engineering.

Auric Mining managing director Mark English said: “The outstanding production from the Munda starter pit provides confidence to aggressively pursue this major resource and grade control program prior to the recommencement of mining in 2027.”

Auric’s next phase of work will begin in August with a massive 89,000m grade-control drilling program targeting the upper benches of the proposed Main Pit. The drilling will tighten geological and grade information to a 5m-by-5m spacing, reducing grade uncertainty and improving mining efficiency ahead of the planned 2027 restart.

Together with completion of the RC resource drilling program, those workstreams will provide the technical foundation to restart mining operations while at the same time supporting an ore reserve estimate and detailed mine planning.

The recently released Scoping Study outlines a five-year development pathway based on mining 2.7 million tonnes grading 1.75g/t gold for approximately 155,000 contained ounces, delivering forecast production of 141,254 ounces and projected revenue of approximately $812 million. Success from the current drilling program could ultimately extend the scale and life of the proposed operation.

By proving up more ounces at Munda via its current program, Auric aims to secure long-term access to its refurbished Burbanks processing plant which, significantly would give the company control over its own treatment capacity in a region where mill access remains one of the industry’s biggest bottlenecks.

Beyond the proposed Munda operation, Auric also plans to build an integrated hub-and-spoke gold business centred on the Burbanks processing plant near Coolgardie. Munda is expected to provide the cornerstone feed, alongside future ore from the company’s Lindsay’s gold project and other regional opportunities.

Auric is executing its strategy in the heart of Western Australia’s Goldfields, where established infrastructure, processing plants, experienced mining services and a highly skilled workforce allow brownfields projects to be developed far more efficiently than standalone greenfields operations. And with elevated gold prices continuing to favour developers capable of leveraging that infrastructure rather than building standalone operations from scratch, Auric looks to be putting the right pieces in place.

Munda has already proved itself as a producing gold mine. This campaign however, is about proving how much bigger and ultimately more valuable the operation can become before transitioning from planning to production.

If the drilling delivers, Auric won’t simply have discovered more gold. It will have expanded the proposed operation, strengthened the foundations of its integrated mine-to-mill strategy, secured the cornerstone feed for its Burbanks processing hub and taken another major stride towards building a fully integrated Western Australian gold business.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au