QMines Builds Momentum Beneath Mt Chalmers With 20,000m Drilling Push

Mt Chalmers Campaign Doubled to 20,000 Metres

QMines Limited (ASX:QML) has turned its Mt Chalmers exploration program into a 129-hole, approximately 20,000-metre campaign, doubling the original target as drilling continues across the Queensland copper-gold hub. The September quarter report says the expanded program is aimed at extensions to the main Mt Chalmers deposit and potential resource growth at Botos and Woods Shaft.

The drilling has already produced substantial intervals, including 35 metres at 2.88% copper and 0.75 grams per tonne gold, 32 metres at 1.99% copper and 0.39 grams per tonne gold, and 44 metres at 1.03% copper and 0.15 grams per tonne gold. These are downhole widths, not stated true widths, and the company says their eventual effect on tonnes, grade and resource classification will be assessed in a future update.

The results build on the earlier pit-floor drilling, which reported 26.2 metres at 2.0% copper equivalent including a 2.4-metre higher-grade interval. At Mt Chalmers, core from metallurgical holes has been sent for comminution and flotation work, with the results intended to feed process design and the Definitive Feasibility Study.

Pontoon Drilling Extends Mineralisation Beneath Historic Workings

Drilling from a floating platform on the flooded Mt Chalmers pit has tested beneath the historic open pits for the first time since mining stopped in 1982. The program now comprises 24 diamond holes for about 2,500 metres, with eight completed by the end of September, and subsequent results included 26.2 metres at 1.28% copper and 0.73 grams per tonne gold in hole 26MCDD043.

Further results returned 7.6 metres at 1.77% copper and 1.46 grams per tonne gold in hole 26MCDD047, while another hole ended in copper-zinc mineralisation after encountering historic workings. The results support continued geological modelling and metallurgical work, but they do not yet establish the size or continuity of any additional mineable resource.

Pending Assays Offer the Next Exploration Test

A separate step-out hole, 26MCDD052, visually logged about 11 metres of chalcopyrite and pyrite stringer mineralisation roughly 180 metres north-northeast of the existing Mt Chalmers resource and outside the 2024 pre-feasibility-study open pit. Laboratory assays were still pending at the report date.

QMines is considering whether the zone represents a northern extension of the main lode, a separate mineralised corridor or mineralisation associated with Botos. The company has expressly cautioned that visual sulphide estimates are not a substitute for laboratory grades, with true widths and metal concentrations still unknown. Follow-up drilling along the NNE structural corridor is underway.

Botos Access Secured as Woods Shaft Drilling Nears

At Botos, QMines has begun a modern drilling campaign after executing agreements to acquire two freehold properties for $2.388 million. The program can reach 64 holes and 11,360 metres, but Botos has no declared Mineral Resource; its potential contribution to any future Mt Chalmers mine plan remains dependent on drilling and subsequent technical and economic assessment. The land deal previously cleared access for nine validation holes totalling 1,500 metres.

Woods Shaft is also scheduled for a 39-hole, 7,000-metre program targeting an existing Inferred Resource of 0.54 million tonnes at 0.50% copper and 0.95 grams per tonne gold. The work is intended to validate historic results, test extensions and gather data for a possible resource update.

Cash Position Supports DFS and Financing Work

QMines ended September with $10.692 million in cash after quarterly net operating outflows of $2.87 million and investing outflows of $585,000. The company also points to approximately $1.4 million in contracted receivables from the post-quarter-end sale of its drilling business, taking its stated cash and receivables position to about $12.1 million.

BurnVoir Corporate Finance has been appointed to advise on development financing for Mt Chalmers, alongside the DFS. On the cash figure alone, the Appendix 5B calculation indicates 3.73 quarters of available funding based on the quarter's relevant outgoings, although actual runway will depend on spending, project timing and receipt of the contracted proceeds. The sale leaves the drilling rig at Mt Chalmers, according to the report, preserving continuity while reducing QMines' exposure to drilling equipment ownership and operating costs.

Mount Mackenzie Resource Reaches 170,000 Ounces

At Mount Mackenzie, a 73-hole, 9,798-metre drilling program lifted the Mineral Resource to 5.22 million tonnes at 1.01 grams per tonne gold and 6.7 grams per tonne silver. The estimate contains approximately 170,000 ounces of gold and 1.12 million ounces of silver, with 70% of the gold classified as Indicated.

No pit optimisation, geotechnical design or Ore Reserve estimate has been completed for the project. The immediate focus therefore remains on Mt Chalmers, where remaining pontoon assays, the 26MCDD052 results, Woods Shaft and Botos drilling will feed into the next technical milestones. The key question is whether the growing volume of geological data can translate into a larger, financeable development case before the cash balance becomes the constraint.