Caspin Resources has increased the Kelpie Deposit’s contained tin resource by 45% to 28kt, with the entire 6.5Mt estimate constrained within an optimised open-pit shell. The upgrade adds a maiden Indicated component, but most of the resource remains Inferred and no Ore Reserve has yet been declared.
- 6.5Mt at 0.43% tin for 28kt of contained tin
- 45% increase in contained tin since September 2025
- 1.4Mt Indicated resource and 5.1Mt Inferred resource
- Resource constrained within an optimised open-pit shell
- Four diamond-hole assays pending, with RC drilling due to resume in November
Kelpie resource reaches 28kt of contained tin
Caspin Resources Limited (ASX:CPN) has lifted the Kelpie Deposit’s Mineral Resource Estimate to 6.5 million tonnes at 0.43% tin for 28,000 tonnes of contained tin, a 45% increase in contained metal since the maiden estimate in September 2025. The Bygoo Tin Project in New South Wales is now being presented as a potential foundation for a stand-alone, open-pit tin development.
The updated estimate includes 1.4Mt at 0.47% tin in the Indicated category and 5.1Mt at 0.41% tin in the Inferred category. That split matters: only about 25% of the resource carries the higher confidence classification, while the larger Inferred portion cannot be converted directly into an Ore Reserve without further work.
Open-pit shell supports development assessment
Cube Consulting prepared the JORC 2012 estimate using approximately 30,000 metres of historical and company drilling, including 48 Caspin holes totalling about 8,400 metres. The resource is reported within an optimised pit shell and, according to Caspin, is limited by drilling rather than by the current modelled extent of mineralisation.
The optimisation used a tin price of AUD $64,285 per tonne, an assumed overall metallurgical recovery of 80%, combined processing and general and administrative costs of about AUD $34.20 per tonne, and a 45-degree overall pit slope. Those are resource-stage assumptions, not evidence of project-level economics. The company has not released an economic study or an Ore Reserve, and its own disclosure notes that Mineral Resources do not demonstrate economic viability.
Drilling points to further resource growth
The upgrade follows a stronger geological model informed by induced-polarisation and gravity surveys, as well as infill and extension drilling. It incorporates the Errol’s Zone, where Caspin previously reported its best project intersection of 20 metres at 2.11% tin from 107 metres. That result was part of the 20m at 2.11% tin result reported outside the earlier resource envelope.
Caspin says a roughly 200-metre gap in effective drilling remains between the Dumbrell’s and Errol’s lodes, particularly below 100 metres. Four recently completed diamond holes at the Dumbrell’s and Stewart’s zones were not included in the estimate because assays are pending. All four intersected strong greisen-style alteration, including one hole stepping about 80 metres down-plunge from the nearest Dumbrell’s drill hole.
Metallurgy and next development steps
Preliminary metallurgical work provides an early basis for the recovery assumption used in the pit optimisation. Gravity-only recovery was about 59% at a concentrate grade of 58.3% tin, while adding flotation lifted overall recovery to approximately 84% at a 53.6% concentrate grade. These results come from initial test work on diamond core and will need to be developed through further metallurgical studies.
The company plans additional infill and extension drilling, further metallurgical work and environmental baseline studies. Assay results from the four diamond holes are pending, and reverse-circulation drilling is due to recommence in November 2026. The next meaningful test is whether those results convert more of the large Inferred resource into higher-confidence material while expanding the deposit beyond the current pit-constrained estimate.
Bottom Line?
Kelpie has gained scale and an initial open-pit framework, but the investment case still depends on converting Inferred tonnes, confirming recoveries and moving from a resource model to an economic study.
Questions in the middle?
- How much of the 5.1Mt Inferred resource can be converted through infill drilling?
- Will the pending diamond-hole assays extend the resource beyond the current pit shell and improve its grade profile?
- What will environmental studies, metallurgical refinement and eventual mining costs show about stand-alone project viability?