Southern Cross Gold’s first deep drilling beneath Victoria’s historic Redcastle Goldfield has returned multiple high-grade gold and antimony hits, confirming the presence of Costerfield-style mineralization over a significant vertical extent.
- 26.2 g/t gold intercept confirms high-grade mineralization
- Visible gold and antimony intersected over 250 m vertical extent
- Redcastle hosts 14 reefs across a 900 m corridor with 17 km strike
- Drilling campaign supports district-scale exploration potential
- 11 rigs active across Southern Cross Gold’s Victorian projects
Deep Drilling Validates Redcastle’s High-Grade Potential
Southern Cross Gold Consolidated Ltd (ASX:SX2) has delivered a compelling proof of concept beneath the historic Redcastle Goldfield in Victoria, with drill hole SDDRE016 returning standout assays including 26.2 g/t gold over 0.14 metres and 15.4 g/t gold over 0.22 metres. These results mark the first deep test beneath the Laura prospect, confirming the continuation of high-grade gold-antimony mineralization in a style reminiscent of the nearby Costerfield mine.
The drilling intersected multiple veins over a vertical extent exceeding 250 metres, featuring visible gold hosted in subvertical extensional veins with arsenopyrite-pyrite halos. This discovery extends the known mineralized system well beyond the shallow historic workings, which rarely exceeded 50 metres depth.
District-Scale Opportunity with Untested Reef Systems
Redcastle’s geological setting is impressive: 14 individual reefs stretch across a 900-metre-wide corridor with historic workings covering 17 kilometres of strike. Despite this extensive footprint, the majority of these reefs remain untested at depth, offering a robust pipeline of exploration targets. The mineralization style, hosted in steeply west-dipping quartz veins with associated stibnite and antimony, aligns closely with the high-grade Costerfield system just 7 kilometres along strike.
Drill hole SDDRE017 at the Beautiful Venus prospect confirmed the structural framework with lower-grade gold and trace antimony, aiding future targeting efforts. This complements the deeper, higher-grade intercepts at Laura and underscores the potential for multiple mineralized zones within the project.
Strategic Expansion of Victorian Gold-Antimony Portfolio
Southern Cross Gold is aggressively advancing its Victorian portfolio, with 11 rigs currently operational across Sunday Creek and Redcastle. The company’s 200,000-metre drill program is scheduled through to Q1 2027, with results pending from 71 holes. This campaign aims to delineate resources and expand the footprint of these critical mineral-rich projects.
CEO Michael Hudson emphasised the significance of the findings: “These are the first deep holes ever drilled beneath the Laura prospect at Redcastle, and they have done exactly what we hoped. We have intersected high-grade gold, visible gold and antimony in the same Costerfield-style vein architecture that has made this corner of Victoria one of the highest-grade gold endowments on earth.”
Southern Cross Gold’s focus on antimony, a critical mineral with strategic importance for defence and semiconductor industries, adds a compelling dimension to its exploration success. The Redcastle project’s proximity to Costerfield, Australia’s sole antimony producer, positions it as a potential key contributor to Western supply chains amid global constraints.
Technical Rigor and Future Drilling Plans
The company’s drilling employs oriented diamond core with rigorous sampling and assay protocols, including fire assay and multi-element ICP-MS analyses, ensuring data quality. True thicknesses of mineralized intervals are interpreted at 70% to 85% of sampled lengths, providing confidence in the reported grades.
Further drilling is planned to test strike and dip continuity, with particular attention to the extensive untested reefs below the water table and beneath alluvial cover. This systematic approach aims to build on the encouraging early results and convert exploration success into a defined resource.
Bottom Line?
Southern Cross Gold’s deep drilling at Redcastle confirms high-grade gold-antimony mineralization at depth, setting the stage for a major exploration push in a historically overlooked district.
Questions in the middle?
- How will Southern Cross Gold’s expanding drill results at Redcastle influence its resource development timeline?
- What metallurgical challenges or advantages might arise from the gold-antimony mineralization style observed?
- Can Redcastle’s mineralization continuity at depth support a scalable mining operation akin to Costerfield?