1.20Moz resource, US$1.2m ownership deal and 0.9-quarter cash runway

Zaranou resource reaches 1.20 million ounces

Skylark Minerals Limited (ASX:SKM) has materially increased its economic exposure to a much larger Zaranou gold project, but the market’s immediate question is how the next phase will be funded. The company ended 30 September with A$2.265 million in cash, against quarterly operating and exploration outgoings of A$2.588 million, giving it an estimated 0.9 quarters of available funding under the Appendix 5B calculation.

The funding pressure sits beside a substantial exploration result. Zaranou’s Inferred Mineral Resource has risen 228% to 29.0 million tonnes at 1.28 grams per tonne gold for 1.196 million ounces, rounded by the company to 1.20 million ounces. The updated estimate incorporates M’Basso, Ehuasso and Coffee Bean, and follows the company’s October resource upgrade, which reported the same headline increase after the 2026 drilling programme.

M’Basso drives the resource expansion

M’Basso is doing most of the heavy lifting, contributing 872,600 ounces, or about 73% of the updated Zaranou estimate. Its resource rose from 11,700 ounces, with drilling now defining mineralisation across roughly 2 kilometres of strike and beyond 200 metres of vertical depth.

The result came from 85 reverse-circulation holes totalling 15,888 metres. Phase 2 drilling confirmed continuity between earlier drilling areas, extending the mineralised footprint and returning intersections including 14 metres at 3.26 grams per tonne gold from 78 metres, 10 metres at 2.40 grams per tonne from 140 metres and 10 metres at 1.55 grams per tonne from 217 metres. The latest work builds on the Phase 2 drilling extension, which had already extended the interpreted M’Basso strike towards 2 kilometres.

Those figures remain exploration results, not a production forecast. All of the updated resource is classified as Inferred, and Skylark says further drilling, technical assessment and metallurgical work will be needed before future development studies can rely on it. The estimate is reported on a 100% project basis and is not an Ore Reserve or an assertion that the contained gold can be economically mined.

Skylark agrees to pay US$1.2 million for 90% ownership

Alongside the resource update, Skylark entered a binding agreement to acquire an additional 39% of Zaranou for US$1.2 million in cash, taking its interest from 51% to 90%. The revised arrangement removes the previously required scoping, pre-feasibility and feasibility study milestones for reaching that ownership level. Skylark retains an option to acquire the remaining 10% under the existing terms.

Exploration has not stopped at M’Basso. RC drilling continued at Ehuasso during the quarter, testing extensions, depth continuity and higher-grade zones, with further assays expected in the December 2026 quarter. The planned Zaranou Central programme is intended to test M’Basso, Coffee Bean and Ehuasso, as well as potential mineralised links between them, using further RC drilling supported by targeted diamond drilling.

Capital raising becomes the next operational test

Skylark said it expects to continue exploration at its current level and intends to work through 2027. Trading in its securities was halted on 29 October pending an announcement on a proposed strategic investment and capital raising, while the board said it was confident the funding could be concluded. No terms for that proposed transaction were disclosed in the quarterly cash flow report.

That leaves a clear tension in the filing: Zaranou has produced the company’s strongest reported geological milestone, while the cash balance does not cover a full quarter at the latest spending rate. The next funding terms, Ehuasso assays and the quality of any resource conversion work will determine how quickly Skylark can turn a large Inferred resource into a more advanced project case.