Hammer Metals Sets Sights on SEDEX and Gold Targets with Funded 2026 Drilling at Mount Isa

Kalman West Emerges as Key SEDEX Drill Target

Hammer Metals (ASX:HMX) is gearing up for a busy 2026 field season after completing an extensive portfolio-wide review of its Mount Isa assets. The standout outcome is the definition of a high-priority SEDEX-style target at Kalman West, where coincident lead-zinc-copper-gold soil anomalies and historical drilling intercepts of up to 1.86% Pb and 0.94% Zn underpin the prospect’s potential. This target has attracted a $176,000 grant from the Geological Survey of Queensland, earmarked for diamond drilling to test the mineralised horizon.

The Kalman West Schist, a graphitic and sulfidic muscovite-bearing unit, hosts the target and lies within a world-class SEDEX belt that includes Tier-1 deposits such as Mt Isa and Dugald River. Geophysical data, including VTEM and down-hole EM surveys, reveal a conductive feature consistent with a large-scale sulphide system, further validating the prospect’s significance. The company’s detailed geochemical vectoring highlights hydrothermal alteration zones that could mark feeder pathways or stratigraphic traps, indicating a mineral system footprint not yet effectively tested by shallow historical drilling.

New Gold Anomaly at Keyser Adds Early-Stage Prospect

Alongside Kalman West, Hammer Metals has defined a coherent gold anomaly at the Keyser prospect through 306 soil samples and eight rock chip assays collected in 2025. The anomaly extends over 500 metres of strike with peak soil values reaching 120ppb Au. Rock chip samples returned up to 0.25g/t Au from quartz vein breccias, confirming the presence of gold mineralisation. The structural setting at Keyser, situated along the Ballara Fault and an intersecting cross fault, is favourable for shear- or vein-hosted gold mineralisation.

Follow-up work planned includes in-fill soil sampling, detailed geological mapping, and additional rock chip sampling to refine this early-stage target toward drill readiness.

Advanced Prospectivity Modelling Guides Target Prioritisation

Hammer Metals’ 2025-26 review integrated geological, geophysical, and historical drilling datasets across its 3,724km² Mount Isa portfolio, which includes 43 tenements. The company has drilled 390 holes since 2014, but most prospects remain lightly tested, with only 12 having more than 10 drill holes. The review employed weights-of-evidence and fuzzy-logic modelling to generate prospectivity maps focusing on Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) and shear-hosted copper-gold systems, informed by structural geology expertise from Dr Nick Oliver.

The models successfully highlight known mineralised systems and identify underexplored areas such as Overlander, Blackrock, Yellowstone, and Redback. A detailed electromagnetic (EM) survey review found that the majority of anomalies are associated with sulphide mineralisation rather than graphite, supporting the presence of sizeable sulphide systems that warrant further drilling.

Upcoming Drilling and Study Programs

Hammer Metals is poised to commence a 3,000m Reverse Circulation drilling program in April 2026 targeting Kalman, Blackrock, Lady Jenny, Redback, and Orphan prospects. This campaign aims to upgrade resources and test new targets identified through the recent prospectivity work. Concurrently, a scoping study at Kalman will integrate these exploration results to advance project development.

These plans build on the company's recent success in securing multiple Queensland Government grants totaling $336,000 to support deep drilling and geophysical surveys at Mount Isa, which underpin the upcoming drilling and exploration activities. The combination of systematic data integration, advanced modelling, and targeted drilling positions Hammer Metals to potentially unlock new discoveries in this prolific mineral province.