Reach Resources says final grade control assays have confirmed gold where its Murchison South model predicted, with several zones returning higher grades and wider intervals. The completed dataset now moves into mine scheduling ahead of proposed first ore production, although mining remains subject to further modelling and approvals.
- Final 40 holes complete a 163-hole, 4,236-metre grade control program
- 9 metres at 4.7 g/t gold from 6 metres, including 2 metres at 18.5 g/t
- Five consecutive holes on one section intersected near-surface mineralisation
- Full dataset to define ore-waste boundaries and short-term mine scheduling
- Resource step-out results and a November mining proposal remain ahead
NW Pit drilling confirms the resource model
Reach Resources Limited (ASX:RR1) has finished the grade control work that will underpin mining plans at the proposed NW Pit within its Murchison South Gold Project in Western Australia. The final 40 holes delivered another set of near-surface gold hits, including 9 metres at 4.7 g/t Au from 6 metres in hole 26MSGC0127, with a 2-metre section grading 18.5 g/t Au.
Across the completed 163-hole, 4,236-metre program, 13 holes returned intervals above 5 g/t Au and five exceeded 10 g/t Au. Five consecutive holes on one grade control line also intersected significant mineralisation from at or near surface. The results build on the earlier 123-hole grade control results, which included 2 metres at 24.6 g/t Au within 7 metres at 7.5 g/t Au. [LINK: October grade control results]
Higher grades emerge within tighter drilling grid
Reach says the 10-metre by 10-metre drilling grid largely found mineralisation where the existing resource model expected it, while refining the local distribution of grade. Several zones were higher grade or wider than modelled, including 15 metres at 1.9 g/t Au from 8 metres in hole 26MSGC0120 and 10 metres at 1.9 g/t Au from surface in hole 26MSGC0126, which included 1 metre at 12.4 g/t Au.
The company also reported mineralisation outside the current Mineral Resource Estimate domains. That may provide scope for further interpretation, but the announcement does not provide a revised resource, reserve, mine plan, production target or financial guidance. Reported intervals are downhole widths, not confirmed true widths, and Reach describes the deposit as a narrow, quartz-vein-hosted gold system with a potential nugget effect.
Data now feeds mine scheduling
The practical value of the program lies less in any single spectacular assay than in the completed dataset. Reach says Andel Resources and its mining subsidiary SMS Mining will use the results to finalise grade control modelling, define ore-waste boundaries bench by bench, manage dilution and refine the short-term schedule for the NW Pit.
That work sits within the funded mining arrangement under which Andel has committed to pre-mining, mining, haulage and processing costs. [LINK: Andel mining agreement] Proposed first ore production is targeted for 2027, but the timetable still depends on the final interpretation, scheduling, the mining proposal and other required approvals.
Step-out assays and mining proposal are next tests
Reach is now awaiting results from an approximately 2,000-metre resource step-out program completed in September and says it remains focused on submitting the Murchison South mining proposal during November. Three other mining leases, M59/790, M59/786 and M59/799, have yet to be drilled by the company and are identified as exploration upside because they contain strike extensions of the Primrose Shear and historical workings.
The quality caveats matter in a deposit described as nuggety. The company disclosed that poor-recovery intervals carried higher mean grades than better-recovery intervals, while duplicate precision was affected by coarse gold. One blank returned an anomalous result that is under investigation, and four holes still rely temporarily on planned rather than final survey orientations. None of those disclosures changes the reported intercepts, but they leave the next stage of modelling with work still to do.
Bottom Line?
The drilling has reduced uncertainty around the NW Pit geology, but the investment case now turns on whether that confidence converts into an approved schedule, mining proposal and first ore rather than another round of resource interpretation.
Questions in the middle?
- Will the updated grade control model change the NW Pit’s ore-waste boundaries, mine schedule or expected operating profile?
- When will the 2,000-metre step-out results clarify whether mineralisation extends beyond the current resource domains?
- Can Reach and Andel maintain the proposed 2027 first-ore timetable while the mining proposal and remaining approvals are progressed?