Bellavista Advances Pickle Crow Drilling and Raises A$15.9 Million
Bellavista Resources has begun a 15,000m diamond drilling campaign targeting a shallow 1Moz gold resource at Pickle Crow in Ontario, following its acquisition of an 80% stake. The company also raised A$15.9 million in a placement and listed on the OTCQX to broaden its investor base.
- 15,000m drilling targets 1Moz near-surface gold resource
- Acquisition completed securing 80% of Pickle Crow Project
- A$15.9 million raised in second tranche placement
- Commenced OTCQX trading in US market
- Brumby drilling and metallurgical testing underway
Drilling Targets Open Pit Potential at Pickle Crow
Bellavista Resources Ltd (ASX:BVR, OTCQX:BVRXF) has kicked off a significant 15,000m diamond drilling program at its recently acquired Pickle Crow Gold Project in Ontario, Canada. The initial focus is on the top 260 metres of the existing Mineral Resource, which includes an estimated 1 million ounces of gold at 4.1g/t Au above a 0.5g/t cut-off grade. This near-surface portion is unconstrained by mining shapes and presents an opportunity to delineate potential open pit mining zones.
The drilling campaign, which commenced in late June, is supported by experienced local contractors including Orbit Garant Drilling Services and Bayside Geosciences. Bellavista plans to pivot in early 2027 to test nearby regional targets with strong historical gold anomalism, leveraging extensive geophysical and geochemical data acquired from FireFly Metals Ltd, the previous owner of Pickle Crow. This phased approach aims to expand the resource base beyond the current 2.8 million ounce inferred resource at 7.2g/t Au.
Acquisition Secures Majority Stake and Strategic Assets
Earlier in the quarter, Bellavista completed the acquisition of a 70% interest in Pickle Crow, swiftly exercising its option to increase this to 80% by paying C$3 million to First Mining Gold Corp. The deal also secured 100% ownership of neighbouring tenements and the Sioux Lookout Project, a 160km2 package in the Wabigoon Belt known for high-grade surface gold samples up to 74g/t. The acquisition was overwhelmingly approved by Bellavista shareholders in April and involved the issue of 60 million shares plus 50 million performance rights to FireFly Metals.
To fund its Canadian expansion, Bellavista completed the second tranche of a two-part A$35 million placement, raising A$15.9 million at A$0.75 per share. The company ended the quarter with a robust cash balance of A$30.6 million, providing ample runway for ongoing exploration and development activities.
Board Strengthened and US Market Access Expanded
Bellavista bolstered its leadership with the appointment of Darren Cooke, CEO of FireFly Metals, to its board in June. Cooke brings 28 years of geological expertise and intimate knowledge of the Pickle Crow assets, enhancing continuity as Bellavista advances its exploration plans. Concurrently, Michael Wilson transitioned to a Technical Consultant role, while Alexandra Hughes was appointed Joint Company Secretary.
In a strategic move to broaden its investor base, Bellavista commenced trading on the OTCQX Best Market in the United States under the ticker BVRXF in May. This non-dilutive listing provides US-dollar trading during American market hours and direct access to North American institutional and retail investors.
Progress at Brumby and Bioleaching Research
Meanwhile, Bellavista’s Australian Brumby Project saw the completion of a 4,000m drilling program aimed at testing the continuity of the Hyper Enriched Black Shale (HEBS) mineralisation, with assay results pending. The drilling also supplied bulk samples for metallurgical column leach tests scheduled for the current quarter. Further sampling of the HEBS horizon is planned for the second half of 2026, including uranium-anomalous sediments at Kiangi, to assess scalability of bioleaching recovery techniques developed through recent PhD-led shake-flask experiments.
These bioleaching studies have highlighted pulp density as a critical factor influencing the leaching kinetics and recovery rates of various rare earth and base metals, suggesting potential for cost-effective processing innovations across Bellavista’s portfolio.
Bottom Line?
Bellavista’s aggressive exploration push at Pickle Crow backed by solid funding and strategic board additions sets the stage for potential resource growth, but assay results and metallurgical tests in coming quarters will be key to validating open pit prospects and processing methods.
Questions in the middle?
- Will assay results confirm the extent and grade of the near-surface Pickle Crow resource to support open pit mining?
- How will metallurgical test outcomes at Brumby influence the feasibility of bioleaching as a scalable recovery method?
- What impact will OTCQX trading have on Bellavista’s liquidity and North American investor engagement?
