Pilbara Gold has lifted the Mt York resource by 50% to 2.08 million ounces while advancing a prefeasibility study and restarting drilling at Roe Hills. The annual report also warns that planned exploration spending could require another capital raise within 12 months.
- Mt York resource rises 50% to 2.08Moz
- $27.5m cash held at 30 June 2026
- PFS targeted for H1 CY2027
- Roe Hills drilling resumes after eight years
- Auditor highlights material going concern uncertainty
Mt York resource reaches 2.08Moz
Pilbara Gold Limited (ASX:PGL) has turned a year of exploration into a materially larger gold project, increasing the Mt York Mineral Resource Estimate by 50% to 61.7 million tonnes at 1.05 grams per tonne gold for 2.08 million ounces. The upgrade followed 27,019 metres of drilling completed during 2025, at a reported discovery cost of $13.40 per ounce.
The resource sits within a continuous 4.2-kilometre banded iron formation system, with the company saying optimisation work bottomed out at the deepest drilling across several zones. A reported intersection of 53 metres at 1.45g/t gold from 212 metres was among the results supporting the view that mineralisation continues below the current resource envelope. The 2026 drilling program was still running at year-end, with about 13,000 metres completed across Main Hill, Main Hill Extension, Breccia Hill and Gossan Hill.
That exploration has since produced further wide and high-grade intersections, including 57 metres at 1.00g/t at Main Hill and 17 metres at 3.21g/t at Breccia Hill. Those results are described in the annual report as material for infilling and extending mineralisation ahead of a new resource estimate and a maiden Ore Reserve estimate, but they are not part of the April 2026 MRE.
Permits and studies move toward development
Mt York also cleared several administrative hurdles during the year. The Western Australian Government granted the project’s mining lease, while Pilbara Gold signed a Native Title Mining Agreement with the Nyamal Aboriginal Corporation. The company has also secured access to the Main Hill Extension under an unconditional mineral rights agreement with Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS), although the arrangement excludes lithium and tantalum and carries a 2% gross revenue royalty payable to PLS on minerals recovered from the relevant licences.
The Mt York prefeasibility study remains targeted for completion in the first half of calendar 2027. Work has included metallurgical testwork on four bulk and 22 variability composites, comminution and flowsheet studies, environmental and hydrological work, geotechnical investigations, mine scheduling and process plant and tailings design. Pilbara Gold expects an updated MRE in early 2027 to feed into the study and a maiden Ore Reserve estimate.
Roe Hills is the second, less advanced leg of the strategy. The company restarted exploration at the Goldfields project after an eight-year hiatus, planning up to 12,000 metres of drilling across the Terra and Caliburn prospects. Historic results include 35 metres at 1.00g/t gold at Terra and 22 metres at 1.55g/t at Caliburn, but a maiden Roe Hills resource remains a target for 2027 rather than an established outcome.
Cash has risen, but the runway is not assured
The balance sheet benefited from a $27 million capital raising and a second $10 million cash payment from PLS, leaving Pilbara Gold with $27.5 million in cash at 30 June 2026. Exploration and evaluation expenditure reached $17.2 million during the year, while the company reported a net loss of $3.23 million, narrower than the $10.53 million loss recorded in 2025. It remains an exploration company with no operating revenue from gold production.
The most consequential qualification in the report is not a resource number but a funding warning. The directors said existing cash may not cover the next 12 months if exploration continues at the planned intensity, and that additional capital may therefore be required. Hall Chadwick WA accepted the accounts and issued an unmodified opinion, but separately highlighted a material uncertainty that could cast significant doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.
That leaves Pilbara Gold with a clear near-term test: convert a larger resource and stronger permitting position into a credible development case before the cash balance becomes the dominant story. The early 2027 MRE, the Mt York PFS and the first meaningful Roe Hills resource work will arrive against that funding clock.
Bottom Line?
Resource growth has improved Mt York’s development case, but the 2027 study program will test both the geology and Pilbara Gold’s ability to fund it without further dilution.
Questions in the middle?
- Will the next Mt York MRE convert ongoing drilling success into a meaningful increase in resource confidence and scale?
- Can the PFS establish an economically credible development pathway before the current cash balance is depleted?
- Will Roe Hills produce a maiden resource substantial enough to justify becoming a second development asset?