Arika Resources has uncovered new high-grade lodes at the historic Cosmopolitan and Champion mines, including a 19-metre intersection grading 7.99g/t gold. The discoveries headline a 9,000-metre drilling push backed by a $6.55 million placement and fresh government co-funding.
- 19m at 7.99g/t gold from 111m at Champion, including 6m at 15.87g/t
- 5m at 12.34g/t gold from 162m at Cosmopolitan
- 74 RC holes completed across approximately 9,000 metres
- Up to $211,213 in EIS funding awarded for Yundamindra drilling
- $4.2 million cash at quarter-end after $6.55 million placement
New lodes emerge beyond historic Kookynie workings
Arika Resources Limited (ASX:ARI) has found high-grade gold in areas that sat outside the main historic workings at its Kookynie project, giving the junior explorer a fresh set of targets to chase. Two holes at Champion returned 19m at 7.99g/t gold from 111m, including 6m at 15.87g/t and 6m at 8.89g/t, while a second hole returned 2m at 2.31g/t.
The Champion intersections sit in an interpreted cross-cutting structure around 10 to 20 metres above the historically mined Main Reef. The two holes were drilled about 60 metres apart, with the new zone remaining open along strike, dip and plunge. The result builds on the Champion lode discovery, which had previously highlighted the same 19-metre intersection and more than 8,500 samples awaiting assay.
Cosmopolitan drilling adds a second high-grade search space
At Cosmopolitan, Arika reported 5m at 12.34g/t gold from 162m in hole 26AKRC007 and 9m at 1.59g/t from 188m in hole 26AKRC004, including 3m at 4.48g/t. The latter hole also intersected 9m at 0.61g/t in the Cosmopolitan Main Reef.
The new Cosmopolitan mineralisation is interpreted to sit in a hangingwall position 10 to 20 metres above the Main Reef, roughly 200 metres south and down-plunge of the main historical underground workings. Arika said the intersections were not associated with substantial quartz, a feature that may help explain why earlier miners and selectively sampled historical drill holes did not identify the zone. Composite samples will be re-split and re-submitted on a one-metre basis, so the internal distribution of some reported grades remains to be refined.
Regional targets widen Kookynie’s drilling pipeline
The Kookynie campaign also produced early results from several regional targets along the Cosmopolitan-Altona corridor: 1m at 11.77g/t gold at Irishman, 4m at 6.34g/t at Welshman and 4m at 8.24g/t at Altona South. Surface programs added further targets, with assays of up to 109g/t from soil and rock-chip sampling; 43 of the 356 samples received returned more than 5g/t.
Arika drilled 74 RC holes for approximately 9,000 metres during the quarter, its first Kookynie drilling in more than five years. Extensional drilling is underway at Altona, with Champion and Leipold scheduled for further testing. About 8,500 metres of samples remained awaiting assay at the time of the report, making the next quarter’s results flow potentially substantial but still dependent on laboratory turnaround and follow-up drilling.
Funding moves the rig towards deeper Yundamindra targets
Following quarter-end, Arika received up to $211,213 in Western Australian Government Exploration Incentive Scheme support for two 600-metre diamond holes at Pennyweight Point, within the 100%-owned Yundamindra project. The holes are designed to test potential depth extensions to modelled high-grade shoots around 400 metres below surface and 200 metres below the previous deepest drilling. The grant was reported shortly after the Pennyweight Point grant, which described the same planned deep-drilling program.
The rig is scheduled to move to Yundamindra in November, while soil geochemistry at the large Emerald City prospect has been completed ahead of a planned maiden drilling program. Arika’s plans are exploration-stage targets, not a mineral resource or production forecast, and the company says additional drilling is required to test their continuity.
Placement provides cash but leaves an active spending program
Arika ended September with A$4.2 million in cash after raising A$5.85 million in the first tranche of a broader A$6.55 million placement, before costs. The placement issued 344.7 million shares at A$0.019 each once director participation was approved, with resource investor Lion Selection Group contributing A$2 million for an interest of about 6.7%. The first placement tranche had earlier raised A$5.85 million through the issue of more than 307 million shares.
Quarterly exploration expenditure was A$1.475 million, while the Appendix 5B showed total relevant cash outgoings of A$1.908 million and estimated funding of 2.2 quarters at the quarter-end rate. That provides room for the immediate drilling sequence, but the pace of spending will matter as Arika moves from discovery intercepts towards enough drilling density to assess whether the new zones can support a future resource.
Bottom Line?
The next test is whether follow-up drilling and pending assays turn isolated high-grade intersections into continuous mineralised zones before the current exploration budget tightens.
Questions in the middle?
- Will follow-up drilling confirm strike, dip and plunge continuity at the new Champion and Cosmopolitan lodes?
- How much of the approximately 8,500 metres awaiting assays will add new targets or materially change the exploration picture?
- Can Arika maintain its planned Kookynie and Yundamindra drilling pace on a reported 2.2 quarters of funding?