Kalgoorlie Gold Mining has kicked off a two-pronged drill assault on its Pinjin gold project, 140 kilometres northeast of Kalgoorlie in WA's Eastern Goldfields, fast-tracking a reverse circulation (RC) program at its Lighthorse prospect and an aircore campaign at the nearby Rebecca Sequence.
The new drilling will see the company chase depth extensions to known high-grade gold at Lighthorse, while also sniffing out a possible concealed gold deposit that could be lurking within the Rebecca Sequence.
The Rebecca Sequence sits within the prolific Laverton Tectonic Zone (LTZ), a major structure and geological corridor boasting a gold endowment of more than 30 million ounces and home to Ramelius Resources’ 1.4-million-ounce Lake Rebecca gold project, just 16km south of KalGold’s ground. The company’s Pinjin project covers a substantial slice of the southern LTZ, putting it firmly in the thick of one of WA’s richest gold provinces.
At Lighthorse, the RC drill is already boring through the rocks to test the distribution of high-grade gold at depth. The program follows up early 2025 drilling which delivered a very encouraging peak assay of 19.70 grams per tonne (g/t) gold across one metre from 145m in fresh rock and identified thick zones of mineralisation dotted along the prospect’s 1.6-kilometre strike length. Management said the gold occurrences remain open at depth, with grades appearing to increase on several sections.
The new program will drill 22 holes to test directly beneath the recent high-grade hits for continuity. In a strategic shift, KalGold will also turn the rig around and drill towards the west to test a steeply east-dipping geological and mineralisation model. Drilling began on Monday and is expected to take several weeks to complete.
While the RC rig chews through the metres at Lighthorse, the aircore drilling is slated to begin next week at the Rebecca Sequence, 4km east of Lighthorse. The program will be the first systematic evaluation of the highly metamorphosed rocks along that part of the eastern side of the LTZ.
The 120-hole aircore program will be drilled on a nominal 400m by 100m grid to identify near-surface, coherent, low-level gold anomalism that could point to a bigger concealed system worthy of follow-up deeper and more focused RC drilling.
With major new discoveries becoming increasingly scarce, systematic exploration in proven, multi-million-ounce gold belts such as the LTZ is attracting significant attention.
Australia’s gold exploration sector is currently operating at record intensity, with total exploration expenditures reaching an ABS-reported A$566 million for the latest quarter - a 23.6 per cent hike on figures from the previous corresponding period amid a supportive gold price environment.
That expenditure has contributed heavily to a total national mineral exploration spend of A$1.19 billion for the three months to September. Driven by a highly supportive and seemingly irrepressible gold price environment, annual gold exploration spending jumped 47.8 per cent year-on-year to A$1.93 billion.
KalGold has already proven its discovery credentials, having defined a total gold resource of more than 214,000 ounces across its La Mascotte, Kirgella Gift and Providence deposits at a remarkably low reported cost of less than A$4.60 per ounce.
With two rigs soon to be working in tandem, KalGold has set itself up for a period of solid news flow. The company is now fighting the secretive gold gods on two fronts – looking to build on its previous successes with its follow-up Lighthorse program while simultaneously probing the relatively unknown but tantalising ground within the Rebecca Sequence. Given its along-strike proximity to the Lake Rebecca gold deposit, a strong scent of the right tenor of gold mineralisation in its first-pass aircore program could get interesting very quickly.
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By Doug Bright
