McNabs East drilling points Ordell towards its first gold resource

McNabs East drilling builds towards first resource

Ordell Minerals Limited (ASX:ORD) has delivered another set of wide, near-surface gold intersections at McNabs East, the prospect at the centre of its 80.3%-owned Barimaia Gold Project near Mount Magnet in Western Australia. The results include 32 metres at 1.65g/t gold from 31 metres, 19 metres at 2.70g/t from 40 metres and 25 metres at 1.89g/t from 16 metres, with the last interval including one metre at 26.67g/t.

The latest results extend the body of drilling intended to underpin Ordell’s first resource estimate for McNabs East. The company says the October McNabs East assaysOctober McNabs East assays had already confirmed wide, shallow mineralisation across about 400 metres, while the current quarter’s 122-hole, 8,625-metre infill program tested roughly 1,400 metres of strike to a maximum vertical depth of about 100 metres.

Deeper extensions keep the system open

Ordell also reported results from diamond drilling at the McNabs East Main Zone, where mineralisation has now been extended down-dip and down-plunge to the east. The deeper intersections included 17.4 metres at 1.49g/t from 220.3 metres, 9.7 metres at 1.94g/t from 203.2 metres and 6.5 metres at 3.14g/t from 213 metres.

Shorter, higher-grade intervals were also recorded, including 2.0 metres at 4.59g/t from 140 metres and 2.2 metres at 5.13g/t from 155.9 metres. Ordell says further extensional drilling is planned for the December 2026 quarter. Results remain pending for about 80 infill RC holes, meaning the resource picture is still being assembled rather than finalised.

Barimaia moves from drilling towards mine studies

The company is pursuing two related objectives at Barimaia: defining a potential near-term mine development opportunity at McNabs East, and expanding the wider gold system through regional and extensional drilling. The 14,000m Barimaia campaign14,000m Barimaia campaign was previously launched with the same maiden-resource target, and Ordell now says the resulting data will feed into mining studies after the resource estimate.

Those studies are expected to cover metallurgy, geotechnical work, preliminary open-pit optimisations, conceptual mine designs, infrastructure, water, waste-rock geochemistry and approvals. A water-bore program has been completed, and the company says testing confirmed a suitable water source for mining requirements. None of this amounts to a development decision: no mining production or development activity occurred during the quarter, and any project would remain subject to technical results, approvals and funding.

Regional targets add assays to the queue

Ordell completed a 125-hole, 6,500-metre aircore program across northern, eastern and southern target areas at Barimaia, searching for new gold-mineralised felsic intrusions. Assays were still pending at quarter-end. The company also completed an approximately 2,800-metre, 78-hole maiden aircore program at the Goodia Project, testing soil-defined gold anomalies over a 10-kilometre strike extent.

Cash position leaves exploration runway

Ordell held A$6.4 million in cash at 30 September, after spending A$1.582 million on exploration and evaluation during the quarter. Operating cash outflow was A$1.806 million, and the Appendix 5B calculated an estimated 3.5 quarters of funding at the reported spending rate. That provides room for the next drilling and study phase, but the runway is a moving measure for a pre-revenue explorer as work shifts towards resource definition and possible development planning.