Riversgold opens new ground around Northern Zone with 15-fold expansion

Northern Zone footprint to grow from 0.82km² to 12.82km²

Riversgold Limited (ASX:RGL) is buying the missing piece around its Northern Zone gold project, agreeing to acquire 100% of Exploration Licence E25/594 from Black Cat Syndicate (ASX:BC8). The roughly 12km² tenement borders Riversgold’s existing 0.82km² mining lease on three sides, lifting the immediate project area by about 15 times, or 1,463%.

The transaction broadens a project that had been tightly constrained by its mining-lease boundary. It also follows Riversgold’s earlier Northern Zone land expansion, which added 20% to the company’s Kalgoorlie footprint and was described as providing infrastructure space and new exploration ground.

Western extension becomes first drilling target

Riversgold says its three-dimensional geological model shows Northern Zone mineralisation reaching the western edge of M25/389 and remaining open into E25/594 and at depth. Intercepts close to that boundary include 16 metres at 4.69 grams per tonne gold from 30 metres, 15 metres at 2.10 grams per tonne from 36 metres and 7 metres at 3.90 grams per tonne from 35 metres.

Those results are from existing drilling on the mining lease, not new results from the acquired ground. The company plans to compile and validate historical data before seeking approval for an air-core programme, with the western extension identified as its first drilling priority.

Magnetic targets offer exploration upside, not yet a discovery

Beyond the known extension, Riversgold has interpreted several oval magnetic features within E25/594 as possible intrusive bodies resembling the tonalite-trondhjemite intrusion that hosts Northern Zone. The targets sit near the Hampton Hill Fault Zone and associated northwest-trending structures, which the company considers favourable geological settings for intrusion-related gold mineralisation.

The evidence is preliminary. Of 299 historical holes totalling 14,911 metres, 254 were shallow RAB holes that mostly failed to penetrate transported cover. Riversgold says there has been no effective drilling west of Northern Zone, but it also cautions that the magnetic targets are conceptual and that further exploration may not produce economic mineralisation.

Deal terms bring funding and royalty obligations

Black Cat will receive A$1 million in cash and 111,111,111 Riversgold shares priced at A$0.009 each, with the shares subject to a 12-month escrow period. The cash is not conditional on financing and is expected to come from a future capital raising whose size, structure and timing have not been determined.

The acquired tenement will carry a 1% net smelter return royalty payable to Black Cat, alongside an existing 1% royalty payable to Mining Equities. Black Cat will also have a right of first refusal to process ore from E25/594 at its Lakewood facilities if Riversgold proposes using a third-party toll-treatment plant. Completion is expected within three months of signing, subject to conditions including consent from Mining Equities.

Mine approval process remains separate

Riversgold says the acquisition does not alter the timing of its Northern Zone Mine Development and Closure Proposal, lodged on 30 September 2026. That approval work was the subject of the company’s Northern Zone approval filing, which reported that MEGA Resources had committed to fund mining under a 50/50 profit-sharing arrangement while Riversgold remained responsible for progressing regulatory approvals.

The immediate test is whether the enlarged land position can convert geological interpretation into drill-backed mineralisation before the funding question becomes more pressing. Completion, the future capital raising and Programme of Work approval now sit between the transaction’s headline scale and any evidence that the western ground can support a larger project.