Riversgold Uncovers New Shallow Gold Zone Near Kalgoorlie
Riversgold Limited has identified promising shallow gold mineralisation in a previously undrilled area at its Northern Zone Gold Project near Kalgoorlie, expanding the potential footprint ahead of planned mining in 2026.
- New gold mineralisation discovered in undrilled 'saddle' area between existing zones
- Six recent drillholes confirm shallow oxide gold grades up to 11 g/t
- 2025 drilling campaign completed with 37 more drillhole results pending
- Potential for eastern and northwestern zones to merge into a ~600m wide mineralised zone
- Data to support Mega Resources' mining plans and upcoming maiden Mineral Resource Estimate
Expanding the Gold Footprint
Riversgold Limited (ASX, RGL) has announced encouraging assay results from six additional drillholes at its Northern Zone Gold Project, located just 25 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. The new data reveals shallow gold mineralisation in a previously untested area known as the 'saddle', a zone bridging the eastern and northwestern mineralised sectors.
This discovery is significant because it suggests these two previously separate zones could potentially join, creating a broader, continuous gold-bearing system. Riversgold’s exploration director, Ed Mead, highlighted that modelling indicates this could form a roughly 600-metre-wide zone of shallow oxide mineralisation overlying the Northern Zone’s porphyry system.
Drilling Highlights and Technical Insights
The recent drilling campaign has delivered several noteworthy intercepts, including 5 metres at 3.09 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 47 metres depth and a standout 1 metre at 11.0 g/t gold from 46 metres. These grades, while modest in some intervals, are consistent with the company’s goal of expanding the oxide gold footprint within the top 50 to 60 metres of the project area.
Riversgold’s drilling strategy has focused on vertical air core and grade control rig drilling, which is well-suited to the shallow, horizontal mineralisation hosted within the Tonalite-Trondhjemite Intrusion (TTI) rock unit. The absence of groundwater to 60 metres depth has facilitated effective sampling and assay reliability.
Next Steps and Market Implications
The 2025 drilling program has now concluded, with assay results from an additional 37 drillholes expected in batches over the coming weeks. These results will be critical for updating the geological model and supporting Mega Resources’ mining plans, which aim to commence operations in the first half of 2026 under a recently signed cooperation agreement.
Riversgold plans to use the expanded dataset to complete a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE), a key milestone that will provide a formal quantification of the project’s gold resources and underpin future development decisions.
For investors, the ongoing expansion of the Northern Zone’s gold footprint and the potential unification of mineralised zones represent positive developments that could enhance the project’s scale and economic viability. However, the full impact will depend on forthcoming assay results and the subsequent resource estimation.
Bottom Line?
As Riversgold awaits further assay results, the Kalgoorlie project’s evolving footprint could reshape its mining potential in 2026 and beyond.
Questions in the middle?
- Will the pending 37 drillhole assays confirm the continuity of the newly identified saddle zone?
- How will the maiden Mineral Resource Estimate quantify the expanded gold footprint?
- What are the implications for Mega Resources’ mining schedule and project economics?