Evergold’s Vanguard zone points to a bigger Mt Monger drilling story

Mt Monger drilling sharpens Evergold’s resource pathway

Evergold Minerals Limited (ASX:EG1) has put a potential maiden resource at the centre of its next exploration phase after reporting broad and high-grade gold results from the Mt Monger Gold Project. The company plans resource-definition RC drilling at Duchess of York and the newly identified Vanguard zone, targeting a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate in early 2027, although the timing and outcome remain dependent on further drilling and estimation work.

The completed Duchess of York RC program returned 25 metres at 3.47 grams per tonne gold from 3 metres, including 1 metre at 52.74 g/t, while another hole delivered 6 metres at 5.43 g/t from 29 metres. The results extended known mineralisation along strike and down-dip, with the company interpreting the system as broader and flatter-lying than previously recognised and still open at depth. Evergold also cautions that some shallow high grades may partly reflect supergene enrichment rather than primary mineralisation below the weathered zone.

The quarter consolidated the results from the company’s high-grade Mt Monger drilling, which had previously reported a 25-metre intercept at 3.47 g/t including 1 metre at 52.7 g/t. At Gladiator, maiden RC drilling confirmed mineralisation beneath earlier surface geochemical and gravity anomalies, including 8 metres at 0.44 g/t from 43 metres. Gladiator remains a priority for a planned Western Australian Government EIS co-funded diamond-drilling program.

Vanguard adds a second drilling focus

Vanguard, about 600 metres northwest of the Duchess of York main zone, emerged from the first phase of Mt Monger aircore drilling. Three adjacent holes returned 19 metres at 0.86 g/t from 28 metres, including 4 metres at 2.37 g/t, 9 metres at 1.01 g/t and 4 metres at 0.65 g/t. Historical drilling and the new results define an interpreted mineralised footprint of about 250 metres east to west, with the zone open to the south-west and at depth.

Those Vanguard results were based on 4-metre composite samples, meaning follow-up RC drilling is still needed to establish true widths, grade distribution and continuity. The planned program will also test historical high-grade intercepts at Kiaki Soaks and selected deeper extensions at Duchess of York. The company previously said Vanguard drilling was planned ahead of the targeted early 2027 resource estimate.

Leonora pipeline expands around Wonder structure

At the Leonora Goldfields Project, 1,312 surface samples and about 23 square kilometres of drone magnetics refined three priority targets, all in areas with no known historical drilling. Katalina expanded to roughly 500 metres by 500 metres and produced the program’s peak result of 200 parts per billion gold. New targets Sirius and Jack’s Reward sit along the interpreted Wonder structural corridor, with Jack’s Reward about 3.5 kilometres along strike from Northern Star Resources’ approximately 1 million-ounce Wonder deposit.

The company’s three Leonora gold targets remain early-stage exploration concepts rather than defined deposits. Evergold plans infill geochemistry and first-pass drilling, subject to heritage clearance, while its existing Leonora resource remains an Inferred 63,000 ounces at 1.41 g/t. The filing stresses that the resource has low geological confidence and that any future mining development would require further drilling, technical studies and regulatory approvals.

Cash falls as exploration spending accelerates

Evergold ended September with $2.765 million in cash, down from $4.007 million three months earlier. Exploration and evaluation expenditure rose to $1.291 million during the quarter, largely reflecting Mt Monger drilling, Leonora geochemistry and geophysics, and higher spending on the Queens Gold project. A $486,000 R&D Tax Incentive rebate, including interest, partly offset the outflow without diluting shareholders.

On the company’s Appendix 5B calculation, available funding equated to 2.28 quarters at the quarter’s relevant cash-outflow rate, with no financing facilities available. That gives Evergold room to pursue the next drilling phase, but leaves the funding question tied closely to the pace of exploration spending and the results of the upcoming programs. An exploration strategy update is due by the end of October, before the planned RC campaign becomes the next major test of whether Mt Monger’s promising intercepts can be translated into a compliant resource.