Rua Gold uncovers exceptional gold-antimony grades at Auld Creek
Rua Gold has reported its highest-grade Auld Creek drilling results to date, including 0.6 metres at 136.2 g/t gold equivalent and 2.9 metres at 38.8 g/t gold equivalent. The company has completed 19,600 metres of resource drilling and is targeting an updated resource, approvals application and pre-feasibility study before year-end.
- 0.6m at 136.2 g/t AuEq, including 82.9 g/t gold and 24.8% antimony
- 19,600m resource drilling completed, exceeding the 19,000m target
- Four rigs to continue testing Auld Creek along strike and at depth
- 18 drill-hole assays remain pending for the Q4 2026 resource update
- Fast-Track Approvals application due in October, PFS targeted for December
Exceptional grades emerge from Auld Creek drilling
Rua Gold Inc. (TSX:RUA, NZX:RGI) has produced its strongest Auld Creek drill results to date, led by a 0.6-metre interval grading 136.2 g/t gold equivalent from 237.6 metres. The intercept contained 82.9 g/t gold and 24.8% antimony, although the reported interval is measured along the drill hole and should not be read as the deposit’s true width.
Other notable results included 2.9 metres at 38.8 g/t AuEq, carrying 9.3 g/t gold and 13.7% antimony, plus 2.7 metres at 23.2 g/t AuEq and 7 metres at 9.9 g/t AuEq. Gold-only results included 11.3 metres at 6.11 g/t gold and 11.3 metres at 5.7 g/t gold, with the latter containing a 0.8-metre zone at 17.65 g/t.
Resource drilling moves into mine-study territory
The company has now completed 19,600 metres of resource drilling at Auld Creek, ahead of its 19,000-metre target. Four rigs will remain active during the fourth quarter, testing the deposit along strike and at depth as Rua Gold seeks to build confidence in a resource that extends more than 1,000 metres along strike and beyond 500 metres in depth.
Rua Gold says detailed geological and structural work has improved its interpretation of the high-grade shoots, helping guide drilling towards zones with stronger continuity. The campaign has also identified localised mineralised zones wider than 20 metres, visible gold and areas where higher-grade gold and antimony zones sit around broader mineralisation grading roughly 2-3 g/t gold. The company’s chief executive Robert Eckford said the results were informing the mine plan and that Auld Creek remained open in all directions, while cautioning indirectly through the ongoing exploration programme that the deposit is still being defined. The project’s entry into New Zealand’s approvals regime, Auld Creek’s Fast-Track status, now sits alongside the technical work required to advance the development case.
Pending assays will feed the next resource estimate
Assays from a further 18 drill holes are pending and are expected to contribute to an updated Mineral Resource estimate in the fourth quarter of 2026. The drilling programme is also collecting geotechnical, hydrological and metallurgical data for the pre-feasibility study, including rock-strength testing, specific gravity measurements and ore-zone characterisation.
Rua Gold remains on track to submit its substantive Fast-Track Approvals application in October and publish the PFS in December. Those milestones remain forward-looking: the filing identifies permitting delays, exploration results, economic evaluations, project changes, financing and commodity prices among the factors that could affect the eventual outcome. The company has also appointed Darren Prins as interim chief financial officer and corporate secretary while Zeenat Lokhandwala takes planned maternity leave.
Bottom Line?
The headline grades are striking, but the next test is whether the 18 pending assays translate into a larger, coherent resource and a mine plan that survives metallurgical, economic and permitting scrutiny.
Questions in the middle?
- Will the pending assays confirm continuity of the high-grade gold-antimony shoots across the wider resource?
- How will the latest antimony-rich intervals affect recoveries, processing assumptions and the December PFS?
- Can Rua Gold submit its Fast-Track Approvals application in October while the resource and mine-study work remains active?
