Strata gives Zelica a 42,000oz resource base and room to grow

Maiden Zelica resource establishes a development base

Strata Minerals Limited (ASX:SMX) has put a compliant number around the Zelica gold project for the first time, reporting 814,000 tonnes at 1.61g/t gold for 42,000 ounces under the JORC 2012 code. The resource contains 28,500 ounces classified as Indicated and 13,500 ounces classified as Inferred, giving the company a more defined platform for mine planning than the superseded JORC 2004 estimate.

The result follows two RC drilling campaigns completed in November 2025 and March 2026, which Strata said validated and extended known mineralisation. The company’s earlier Phase 2 drilling campaign reported gold in 16 of 17 holes, while the new estimate incorporates historical drilling alongside Strata’s recent work.

Pit shell points to shallow mining potential

The resource is reported above a 0.5g/t gold cut-off and constrained within an optimised open-pit shell using a gold price assumption of A$5,500 an ounce. The optimisation also assumed mining costs of A$4.80 a tonne, processing costs of A$82.25 a tonne, haulage of A$0.18 per tonne-kilometre and 90% processing recovery.

Those assumptions establish reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction in the resource model, rather than proving that Zelica is economically viable. Higher-grade mineralisation sits towards the base of the current pit shell, and the deposit remains open down dip and along strike. The current resource covers roughly 1km of shallow oxide mineralisation and extends to about 150 metres vertically, according to the announcement.

BML agreement offers a conditional route to mining

Zelica sits on granted mining lease M39/1101 and is located within about 50 kilometres of multiple million-ounce gold deposits and several processing mills. Strata also has a Mining Services and Profit Share Agreement with BML Ventures, under which BML is responsible for funding pre-development, development and mining activities on a non-recourse basis, with profits to be shared equally after cost recovery.

That arrangement is a potentially useful capital-light structure, but it is not a production commitment. Mining services remain conditional on agreement of a mine plan and budget, as well as an ore tolling agreement on terms acceptable to both parties. The BML development pathway was previously presented as a way to advance proposed Zelica mining activities subject to conditions and approvals.

Exploration upside remains ahead of the resource

Strata is positioning the 42,000-ounce estimate as an initial base within a broader 9.5-kilometre Zelica gold corridor. The company says much of that corridor remains lightly tested by modern exploration, with future drilling planned across southern, central and northern zones and into higher-grade mineralisation below the current pit shell.

The next work program spans resource-growth drilling, metallurgical testwork, mine planning, permitting and environmental approvals. The resource model used assumed bulk densities for transitional and fresh material because direct density data were unavailable for those zones, while the company has also flagged the need for further work on processing characteristics and recoveries. The key question is therefore not whether Zelica has a compliant starting resource, but how much of the open mineralisation can be converted into a technically and economically supportable mine plan.