Killi Resources has intersected a 50-metre zone of visually estimated crystalline magnetite 600 metres south of Lodestone’s existing 110Mt inferred resource. The result also identified a separate 16-metre hanging-wall zone, but assays and metallurgical testing are still pending.
- 50m visual magnetite intersection in KKDD004
- New 16m hanging-wall zone identified
- Drill hole sits 600m beyond current resource boundary
- Assays, DTR analysis and metallurgical testing pending
- 20,000m program continues across 25km Lodestone system
Step-Out Hole Extends Lodestone Magnetite System
Killi Resources Limited (ASX:KLI) has found a broad magnetite zone well beyond the known Lodestone resource, with diamond hole KKDD004 intersecting approximately 50 metres of crystalline magnetite 600 metres south of the current boundary. The hole also cut a separate hanging-wall zone about 16 metres wide, adding a second target to the company’s resource-growth campaign.
The result is notable because the core was drilled 500 metres south of KKDD001 and reportedly contains the same coarse-grained, recrystallised magnetite seen in that earlier hole. Killi says magnetic susceptibility readings support its preliminary visual estimate of 35% to 50% magnetite across the main intersection, although those readings do not establish iron grade, recovery or final product quality.
Assays Remain the Critical Test
KKDD004 reached a total depth of 192.1 metres, with the main magnetite-bearing intervals logged between roughly 71 metres and 163 metres downhole. The reported widths are downhole lengths rather than confirmed true thicknesses, and the company has not yet completed detailed sampling or laboratory analysis.
That leaves the most investable part of the announcement still to come. Killi plans to submit the core to ALS Laboratories for Davis Tube Recovery analysis and broader metallurgical testing. The company’s existing Lodestone work has produced a 69% iron concentrate at a 33% Davis Tube mass recovery, but KKDD004 must now demonstrate whether the new mineralisation can deliver comparable results. The filing expressly cautions that visual estimates should not be treated as a proxy for assay results, mass recovery, concentrate grade or metallurgical performance.
20,000m Campaign Targets Resource Upgrade
The hole forms part of Killi’s approximately 20,000-metre reverse-circulation and diamond drilling campaign, designed to extend and upgrade the existing 110Mt JORC Inferred Mineral Resource. Drilling is planned across about 15 kilometres of the 25-kilometre Lodestone recrystallised magnetite system, with the company aiming to generate enough higher-confidence material to support a future economic study.
For Killi, the geological appeal is straightforward: Lodestone is a banded-iron sequence that the company says has been thermally upgraded into coarse, low-impurity crystalline magnetite. That material is being targeted for direct-reduction-grade concentrate suited to lower-carbon steelmaking and electric arc furnaces. Whether the geological continuity translates into an economic resource, however, will depend on the pending assays, recoveries, product specifications and further drilling rather than the visual core alone.
Bottom Line?
KKDD004 strengthens the geological case for extending Lodestone, but the next meaningful valuation test is laboratory confirmation of grade, recovery and continuity.
Questions in the middle?
- Will assays confirm the visual magnetite estimates and support a concentrate comparable with Lodestone’s existing 69% Fe product?
- Does the newly identified 16-metre hanging-wall zone continue across additional drill lines?
- How much of the 25-kilometre Lodestone trend can ultimately be converted into a higher-confidence mineral resource?