Rox finds more high-grade gold as Youanmi drives move beyond plan

Rox Resources Limited (ASX:RXL) is finding more gold where it now matters most: underground, ahead of planned stoping at Youanmi. Drilling at the United North area returned a 10.30-metre intercept grading 12.46g/t gold, including 1.56 metres at 43.42g/t, while development drives have pushed roughly 125 metres beyond the mine plan used in the project’s Definitive Feasibility Study.

United North drilling delivers high-grade intervals

The latest underground diamond drilling also produced 6.98 metres at 13.93g/t gold in hole UNN26_019, with separate higher-grade sections of 2.40 metres at 19.52g/t and one metre at 16.00g/t. The same hole returned 2.80 metres at 13.20g/t, including one metre at 33.10g/t.

Hole UNN26_013 returned 9.77 metres at 11.17g/t, including 5.07 metres at 19.17g/t. A further hole, UNN26_020, delivered 5.04 metres at 4.11g/t. Rox said host shear zones were observed in all of the latest holes, supporting the company’s interpretation that mineralisation continues beyond the areas defined in the DFS.

Ore drives move beyond DFS mine plan

Development on the 2356mRL and 2341mRL levels has extended approximately 125 metres farther along strike than originally designed. Rox said the extension is supported by earlier surface resource drilling and has been further corroborated by the new underground drilling and production face samples.

Both drives are now being prepared for production stoping once the final grade-control model is completed in the coming weeks. The company said 19 underground holes covering 3,326 metres were completed in August, with the broader drilling program designed to bring the mine to a nominal 20-metre by 20-metre spacing and maintain infill coverage 12 months ahead of mining by mid-2027.

Assays and modelling remain key gates

The results were received after the data cutoff for Rox’s 2026 Mineral Resource and Ore Reserves update, meaning they represent potential upside to those estimates rather than ounces already included in them. Final assays from underground resource drilling and production face samples are still outstanding, and grade-control estimates will only be completed once the remaining results arrive.

The reported drill intersections are downhole lengths that Rox says approximate true widths. Face samples are operational samples from advancing development and are not equivalent to resource-definition drilling, an important distinction as the company moves from geological confirmation towards mine execution.

Stoping preparation brings a practical test

Rox said the growing surface ore stockpile supports its targeted commissioning stockpile of 190,000 tonnes at 3.3g/t gold, while Managing Director and CEO Phillip Wilding said the company remains focused on a longer-term aspiration of becoming a 150,000-ounce-per-year operation. Those statements remain forward-looking; the immediate test is whether the grade-control work converts the underground results into consistent, mineable stopes.