Altair Minerals has reported gold in all six deep trenches at South Oko, led by a 10m interval grading 10.15g/t, while expanding Greater Oko and accelerating a fully funded drilling campaign. North Peters has also produced visible gold in core, although laboratory assays are still pending.
- 10m at 10.15g/t gold from South Oko’s W1 target
- Gold intersected in all six deep W1 trenches across a 1.0km by 1.2km area
- Greater Oko expanded by 29km² to 457km² through a binding permit option
- Three rigs active within a fully funded 75,000m drilling program
- North Peters visible gold remains subject to laboratory assay confirmation
South Oko trenching confirms a broad gold system
Altair Minerals Limited (ASX:ALR) has moved its Greater Oko exploration story from target generation into a more substantial drilling test, with all six deep trenches at South Oko’s W1 target intersecting gold. The standout result was 10m at 10.15g/t Au in TR-W1-06, which Altair said ranks as the fourth-best trench intercept on the Oko Shear Contact by grade multiplied by width.
The results cover an area of roughly 1.0km north to south by 1.2km east to west. Other deep-trench intervals included 16m at 1.32g/t Au, 10m at 1.42g/t, 10m at 1.13g/t and 4m at 1.06g/t. The company’s earlier South Oko high-grade trench result had highlighted the 10m at 10.15g/t interval; the latest quarterly report places that result within a wider set of mineralised trenches rather than treating it as an isolated hit.
Altair said the mineralisation is associated with sheared quartz veins dipping about 60 degrees west. Two trenches ended in duricrust, while the shear corridor continues west and southwest beneath cover. That leaves the system open in those directions, but the extent, continuity and true widths of the mineralisation still need to be established by drilling.
Three rigs test South Oko and North Peters
A 15,000m Phase I reverse-circulation program is now under way at South Oko, with initial holes targeting W1 and averaging about 50m in depth. The work is part of a fully funded 75,000m Greater Oko program comprising 40,000m of diamond drilling and 35,000m of RC drilling. The company said three rigs were active across South Oko and North Peters, with a target of approximately 8,000m per month by October 2026.
At North Peters, Phase I comprises 5,600m of diamond drilling and 2,000m of RC drilling aimed at structural controls on high-grade mineralisation. Historic results provide the geological framework, including 85m at 4.81g/t Au from 24m and 89m at 2.40g/t from 45m, including 24m at 7.17g/t. The latest 75,000m Greater Oko drilling campaign had already placed North Peters at the centre of the company’s expanded exploration push.
Visible gold adds an assay catalyst at North Peters
Subsequent to quarter end, diamond hole NPDD26011 recorded visible gold in quartz-carbonate veins at about 45.6m to 45.7m and 107.4m to 107.7m. Altair said approximately 7,200m had been drilled across South Oko and North Peters, with samples sent to two ISO-certified laboratories.
Those observations are not assay results. The company specifically cautioned that visible gold can be affected by a strong nugget effect and does not establish grade, width or continuity. First laboratory results for the relevant holes are expected in November 2026, making the assay release a more meaningful test of whether the visual observations translate into economically relevant mineralisation.
Greater Oko footprint grows while cash funds the work
Altair has also secured an option over eight adjoining permits covering 29km², lifting Greater Oko to 457km² and increasing its exposure to the Oko Shear Contact by about 30% to roughly 18km. The permits remain under option rather than ownership. The arrangement includes a US$175,000 signing fee, staged option payments and total exercise consideration of US$4.5 million, alongside a US$4 per ounce production payment on two permits. The 29km² SOKO permit expansion was previously described as an effort to extend the project’s exploration optionality along the same gold corridor.
Cash stood at approximately A$26.85 million at 30 September. The balance provides the reported funding base for the current drilling campaign, although the filing refers readers to the accompanying Appendix 5B for the detailed quarterly cash movements. Elsewhere, activity was limited at the Venatica copper project, while the dispute with BHP over infrastructure and development use of the Olympic Domain project remains before the courts, with the matter adjourned to 14 December 2026.
Bottom Line?
The next decisive evidence will come from certified North Peters assays and the first RC results showing whether South Oko’s trench-scale mineralisation carries into the subsurface.
Questions in the middle?
- Will November assays confirm that visible gold at North Peters corresponds to meaningful grades and widths?
- Can the 15,000m South Oko RC program demonstrate continuity beneath the duricrust and across the wider W1 corridor?
- Will Altair exercise the adjoining permit option, and how will that decision affect cash available for the 75,000m campaign?