Augustus Minerals extends Music Well gold story as PNG work advances
Augustus Minerals has reported its strongest Clifton East gold intersection to date while preparing more drilling at Music Well and advancing contested licence applications in Papua New Guinea. The exploration push comes with $0.77 million in cash and $879,000 spent during the September quarter.
- 1m at 19.5g/t gold within an 8m intersection at Clifton East
- Three scissor RC holes completed before rain suspended drilling
- Maiden drilling planned at the St Patrick’s Well prospect
- Mt Kare application remains second-in-time and contested
- $879,000 quarterly exploration spend versus $0.77 million cash at bank
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Clifton East delivers Augustus’ strongest gold interval
Augustus Minerals Limited (ASX:AUG) has a sharper exploration result to take into the December quarter: a 1-metre interval grading 19.5 grams per tonne gold at its Clifton East prospect in Western Australia. The result sits within an 8-metre intersection at 3.27g/t gold from 72 metres in hole MWRC0019, including 3 metres at 7.78g/t.
The June reverse-circulation campaign identified gold mineralisation across a 400-metre strike within a broader 1.2-kilometre gold-in-soil anomaly. The result extends the company’s earlier run of drilling success at Music Well, where the 19.5g/t Clifton East result had already prompted a push to test the geometry of higher-grade veins.
Scissor drilling targets steep mineralised veins
Augustus completed its first diamond hole at Clifton East, reaching 201.7 metres. Structural measurements from the core indicate that potentially mineralised pyritic quartz veins dip steeply and sit obliquely to the broader alteration zones. The company’s interpretation has identified two main mineralised shoots that remain open to the north-northeast.
A three-hole RC program designed to test those vein orientations completed 486 metres before approximately 120 millimetres of rain disrupted access. Assays from the holes had been submitted to Intertek’s Kalgoorlie laboratory and were expected in mid-to-late October, according to the report. One further Clifton East hole remains before the rig is scheduled to move to St Patrick’s Well, where rock chips have returned assays of up to 30.4g/t gold across a 600-metre strike.
PNG applications advance without exploration rights
In Papua New Guinea, Augustus continued building the technical and local groundwork around its Mt Kare and Vanapa River exploration licence applications. ACM PNG purchased open-file Mt Kare data from the PNG Mineral Resources Authority and commissioned a technical memorandum compiling historical exploration at the project, which lies 15 kilometres southwest of the Porgera mine.
The important qualification is that Mt Kare remains a second-in-time application and is contested. Augustus explicitly states it has no actual or contingent right to explore or develop the project unless a licence is granted, and there is no guarantee that the application will succeed. At Vanapa River, the company is reviewing historical data, seeking proposals for an airborne magnetic survey and continuing landowner engagement.
Cash position puts the drilling schedule in focus
Augustus spent $879,000 on exploration during the quarter and ended September with $0.77 million in cash at bank. No mining production or development expenditure was recorded. That balance provides a clear financial backdrop to the company’s next steps: completing Clifton East, starting five planned St Patrick’s Well holes, processing incoming assays and carrying out further soil sampling.
The immediate investment case therefore rests on two unresolved tests. The first is whether the scissor holes confirm that the high-grade vein sets repeat beyond the existing drill pattern. The second is how quickly Augustus can fund the next phase of work if drilling delivers more targets but no near-term development cash flow.
Bottom Line?
The next assays could sharpen Music Well’s exploration story, but the $0.77 million cash balance makes the pace and funding of follow-up work an important part of the story.
Questions in the middle?
- Will the Clifton East scissor holes confirm continuity of the steeply dipping higher-grade vein sets?
- Can drilling at St Patrick’s Well replicate the high-grade rock-chip results in fresh subsurface intersections?
- What funding will Augustus require to maintain its Australian drilling program while progressing the PNG applications?
Sources
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Quarterly Activities/Appendix 5B Cash Flow Report (opens in a new tab)Official market announcement. Augustus Minerals Limited · 26 Oct 2026 · augustusminerals.com.au
