Auric’s Munda drilling points to more high-grade gold beyond planned pit

Western Extension Produces High-Grade Intercept

Auric Mining Limited (ASX:AWJ) has found a potentially important high-grade extension west of the planned Munda Stage 2 open pit, with reverse-circulation drilling returning 4 metres at 10.49 grams per tonne gold from 46 metres. The result sits among a broader set of mineralised zones reported at a 0.5 g/t cut-off, although the company says further drilling is needed to establish the continuity and scale of the mineralisation.

Auric said the western results resemble mineralisation at the Starter Pit, where gold is primarily hosted within mafic rocks near the ultramafic contact. The distribution of assays in the northernmost holes is being used to guide the next phase of drilling towards that contact. Drilling below the western lobe of the Stage 2 pit has also commenced, with deeper work planned beneath the deepest part of the designed pit to test possible extensions or future underground potential.

Grade Control Confirms Near-Surface Variability

Inside the planned pit, close-spaced grade-control drilling is returning the kind of uneven but locally high-grade mineralisation that can materially influence an open-pit inventory. Notable intersections include 15 metres at 5.56 g/t from 6 metres, including 3 metres at 19.30 g/t; 9 metres at 7.82 g/t from 17 metres, including 1 metre at 26.40 g/t; and 4 metres at 19.34 g/t from 9 metres, including 2 metres at 38.10 g/t.

The program has so far completed 92 holes for 2,226 metres, defining ore blocks to roughly 30 metres below surface across the Stage 2 pit design. The company says the drilling is intended to support detailed mine planning and a smooth production ramp-up alongside commissioning of the 600,000-tonne-per-year Burbanks Processing Plant. These are down-hole lengths, however, and Auric estimates true widths may range from about 20% to 50% of the reported intercepts.

Pit Design and Ore Reserve Work Nears Decision Point

Four geotechnical diamond holes totalling 580 metres have been completed to establish the parameters for the Stage 2 pit walls. That work is the final technical component Auric says is required to confirm or refine the pit design before defining Ore Reserves, with publication expected during October 2026 after optimisation and design work is completed.

Other work remains in progress. Sterilisation drilling at the proposed waste-rock landform has completed 29 holes for 1,475 metres, but no assays had been received when the announcement was released. The Mine Development and Closure Plan is also under preparation, while the underlying M 15/87 mining lease is being renewed; Auric said mining and exploration are not restricted during that process.

The drilling strengthens the technical case for the next Munda development stage, but it does not yet establish an Ore Reserve or confirm the 2027 restart schedule. The October pit design and reserve update will be the more consequential test: it should show how much of the high-grade variability survives conversion from exploration and grade-control results into mineable tonnes, grades and a defined operating plan.