Accelerate begins first modern Gingarrigan manganese drill test

Gingarrigan Drilling Opens New Resource Front

Accelerate Resources Limited (ASX:AX8) has started the most consequential test yet of its Gingarrigan manganese prospect: approximately 3,500 metres of reverse circulation drilling across ground that sits outside the company’s current Mineral Resource and Exploration Targets. The five-week programme is designed to establish the thickness, grade and continuity of mineralisation beneath the strongest surface outcrops.

That makes Gingarrigan a genuine exploration test rather than a routine extension of an existing estimate. The prospect lies within a 12km corridor linking the Area 42 deposits with El Largo, where Accelerate has mapped more than 200 manganese outcrops. Earlier work recorded rock-chip grades as high as 59.4% manganese at El Largo, while separate samples at Faris reached 59.6% Mn. Surface results, however, do not establish the size or continuity of a deposit at depth.

A Largely Untested Manganese Corridor

The corridor has a long geological footprint but a short drilling history. Outside Area 42, historic work was limited to scattered shallow vertical holes drilled in 1996, averaging 9 metres and reaching no deeper than 15 metres. Accelerate’s campaign is therefore the first modern drilling along the Gingarrigan trend, following the earlier mapping campaign that identified the 200 manganese outcrops.

Area 42 currently hosts an Inferred Mineral Resource of 0.7 million tonnes at 20.7% Mn and forms part of the broader Woodie Woodie North resource of 1.2Mt at 19.1% Mn. Once the Gingarrigan work is complete, the rig is scheduled to move to Area 42 for resource extension and step-out drilling, including a follow-up to diamond hole WNDD003. That hole recorded visual manganese mineralisation across a 72-metre downhole span from 5.6 metres and ended in mineralisation, but the company has stressed that visual observations are not a substitute for laboratory assays and that true widths remain unknown. The follow-up targets the same 72m visual manganese zone.

A$1.1 Million Placement Funds the Next Campaign

Accelerate has also received firm commitments for a A$1.1 million placement to professional and sophisticated investors. The issue comprises 275 million new shares at A$0.004 each, a 20% discount to the last traded price cited in the announcement and a 20.6% discount to the 15-day VWAP.

Most of the shares, worth A$1.045 million, will be issued within the company’s existing placement capacity. Directors and management intend to subscribe for approximately A$70,000, subject to shareholder approval. The proceeds are earmarked for Gingarrigan discovery drilling, Area 42 resource drilling and permitting, Balagundi geochemistry and drilling, working capital and placement costs. The capital raise gives the exploration schedule funding, but also increases the share count materially at a discounted issue price.

Assays Will Decide Whether the Story Advances

The near-term news stream is unusually concentrated: Gingarrigan assays are expected in batches as samples reach the laboratory, while Area 42 metallurgical results, resource drilling and further work at Faris and Sea Turtle are also planned. The company’s existing Exploration Target of 5.3Mt to 10.7Mt at 10% to 19% Mn remains conceptual, is not a Mineral Resource or Ore Reserve, and does not include the Gingarrigan or El Largo trends.

The immediate question is whether the impressive surface footprint translates into coherent mineralisation below ground. Until assays establish grade and continuity, the corridor remains a promising geological proposition rather than a defined addition to Accelerate’s resource base.