Underground Access Challenges Surface Drilling Economics at Nelson’s Gold Point Project

Maiden Underground Drilling Mobilised at Orleans Mine

Nelson Resources (ASX:NES) has shifted gears at its Gold Point Gold-Silver Project in Nevada, mobilising drilling equipment and technical teams to commence its first-ever underground drilling program at the historic Orleans Mine. This marks a significant operational milestone, transitioning from rehabilitation to active exploration in a district that has been consolidated under a single owner for the first time in over 140 years.

The move to underground drilling is a strategic pivot designed to exploit restored access to the mine’s 300’ level, where recent chip sampling returned an exceptional 77.9g/t gold and 46.1g/t silver over 1m from fault breccia adjacent to historic stopes. This high-grade result anchors the program’s focus on testing remnant and unmined vein positions close to these historic workings, potentially unlocking value overlooked by previous surface-only approaches. Nelson’s approach contrasts with earlier surface drilling by enabling shorter holes and better drill angles, which should translate into materially lower drilling costs and improved targeting precision.

Nelson Non-Executive Chairman Gernot Abl emphasised the economic and technical advantages of drilling from underground: "It allows Nelson to test high-grade vein positions from much closer to the target, with shorter holes, better angles and materially fewer drilling metres than would be required from surface." This underground strategy is expected to reduce surface disturbance and improve the overall efficiency of the exploration effort.

Initial and Follow-Up Drilling Plans

The maiden underground program will begin with at least four short holes of approximately 20m each, designed to sample high-grade remnant veins adjacent to historic stopes. Nelson has determined that diamond core drilling is not effective in this specific underground environment for the initial phase, opting instead for chip sampling to provide rapid geological feedback.

Pending results, the company plans a follow-up phase involving up to 15 diamond core holes using a Bazooka drill, targeting extensions of the Orleans vein up to 40m beyond existing workings, as well as potential parallel structures in the footwall. This phased approach balances early-stage exploration agility with the capacity for more detailed structural and grade definition if initial assays justify further investment.

This drill program is underpinned by extensive underground workings at Gold Point, which include over 5km of tunnels across five historic mines and more than 20 shafts. This infrastructure offers multiple access points for systematic, cost-effective underground exploration and supports Nelson’s broader 3D geological modelling efforts. The integration of drill data with underground mapping, LiDAR surveying, and geophysical inputs will refine targeting and inform subsequent exploration phases.

Expanding Underground Exploration Beyond Orleans

While Orleans is the immediate focus, Nelson is advancing rehabilitation at the Great Western Mine, another historically high-grade gold-silver operation within Gold Point. This parallel effort aims to broaden the underground exploration platform, leveraging the district’s consolidated ownership to execute a camp-scale exploration strategy.

Nelson’s multi-pronged approach targets remnant high-grade veins, extensions beyond known workings, parallel vein structures, and newly recognised intrusion-related mineralisation styles such as skarn and porphyry systems. This comprehensive strategy could unlock multiple discovery frontiers across the Gold Point district, which boasts a historical endowment of more than 40 million ounces of gold within a 90km radius.

As the company prepares to commence drilling, the industry will be watching how effectively Nelson’s underground strategy delivers assay results and geological insights compared to traditional surface programs. The initial assays and subsequent diamond drilling outcomes will be critical in validating the economic and technical merits of this approach. This announcement builds on the company’s recent underground rehabilitation completion and the confirmation of a large high-grade system, highlighting a step-change in exploration intensity at Gold Point.