Kingston Resources has boosted the Southern Ore Zone (SOZ) Mineral Resource at Mineral Hill by 50%, expanding the mining inventory and underpinning plans for reserve growth and plant expansion.
- SOZ Mineral Resource increases from 4.36Mt to 6.54Mt
- Measured and Indicated Resources grow 38%, Inferred up 62%
- Total Mineral Hill Resource now 12.1Mt with 873koz AuEq
- 26 new drill holes support resource upgrade
- 25,000m drilling campaign underway to extend resources
SOZ Resource Swells by Half with New Drilling
Kingston Resources (ASX:KSN) has delivered a substantial upgrade to its Southern Ore Zone (SOZ) at Mineral Hill, lifting the Mineral Resource Estimate by 50% to 6.54 million tonnes. This surge follows the addition of 26 drill holes totalling 3,413 metres, which confirmed mineralisation extending beyond previous boundaries and validated the company’s geological model. The upgrade notably enhances the potential mining inventory for the polymetallic volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (VHMS) deposit.
The measured and indicated resource categories saw a 38% increase to 3.05Mt, while the inferred resource jumped 62% to 3.49Mt, underscoring both improved confidence and scale. Overall, Mineral Hill’s total resource base now stands at 12.1Mt, containing an estimated 873,000 gold equivalent ounces at 2.2g/t AuEq and 323,000 tonnes copper equivalent at 2.7% CuEq. This broad resource spans five deposits within reach of the existing 350ktpa processing plant, with SOZ remaining the primary focus for future underground production.
Resource Growth Supports Ore Reserve Expansion and Plant Upgrade
The resource expansion at SOZ provides a platform for increasing Ore Reserves, which currently stand at 700,000 tonnes probable at 1.4g/t gold and 0.8% copper. Since the September 2024 Ore Reserve release, measured and indicated resources have grown by 1.1Mt, offering fresh material for conversion subject to further technical and economic studies. Kingston’s Managing Director Andrew Corbett emphasised the efficiency of the drilling to date and plans for a 25,000-metre campaign over the next 12 months aimed at both expanding the resource and upgrading inferred tonnes to higher confidence categories.
Alongside SOZ, the company is advancing drilling at Jack’s Hut, a historically high-grade underground deposit with existing infrastructure, which is slated for a resource update as part of efforts to establish a second production area. Parker’s Hill, a large but lower-grade deposit, remains an exploration upside with potential to extend mine life and support a proposed plant expansion to 700ktpa. This expansion study is underway and will assess capital requirements to match the emerging mine plan.
Technical Rigor Underpins Resource Confidence
The updated resource incorporates robust geological modelling, with ordinary kriging estimation supported by 55,222 metres of diamond core and 4,701 metres of reverse circulation drilling. The SOZ deposit features structurally controlled, west-dipping lodes with polymetallic mineralisation including copper, gold, lead, zinc, and silver. The resource is reported above a net smelter return (NSR) cutoff of AU$130 per tonne, reflecting reasonable prospects for economic extraction based on updated commodity price assumptions that include a 15% upside on consensus forecasts.
Metallurgical recoveries have been refined using recent test work and historical production data, with cumulative gold and silver recoveries of 83% and 88% respectively across flotation circuits and carbon-in-leach processing. The assumed mining method is long-hole stoping with a smallest mineable unit of 20 metres by 5 metres. Quality assurance protocols and detailed sampling techniques further bolster confidence in the resource estimate.
Resource Remains Open and Drilling Continues
The SOZ resource remains open in all directions, with ongoing underground diamond drilling targeting extensions along the G/H Lode, Upper A Lode, and SOZ Footwall. The company aims to convert more inferred material to measured and indicated categories through targeted infill drilling. Kingston is also testing new zinc and silver targets east of Parker’s Hill, adding to exploration upside.
This resource upgrade arrives amid Kingston’s recent $12.9 million capital raise to fund the drilling program and plant expansion, strengthening the company’s financial position for sustained growth. The scale and quality of the Mineral Hill resource base position Kingston to evolve into a mid-tier polymetallic producer with multiple concurrent underground operations.
Bottom Line?
Kingston’s expanded SOZ resource underpins a clear path to reserve growth and processing scale-up, but ongoing drilling results and updated economic studies will be critical to confirming this trajectory.
Questions in the middle?
- Will the ongoing drilling convert a significant portion of inferred resources to measured and indicated categories?
- How will updated metallurgical test results influence recoveries and economic cutoffs in future reserve calculations?
- What are the timing and capital requirements for the planned plant expansion to 700ktpa, and how will this impact production profiles?