Tim Goyder-chaired Minerals 260 has doubled the mineral resource at the Coolgardie gold project it acquired from Norton Gold Fields in January, mapping a 4.5-million-ounce deposit.
Tim Goyder-chaired Minerals 260 has doubled the mineral resource at the Coolgardie gold project it acquired from Norton Gold Fields in January, mapping a 4.5-million-ounce deposit.
The Bullabulling gold project has a mineral resource measuring 130 million tonnes at 1 gram per tonne gold, for 4.5 million ounces – up 2.2Moz from the last estimate, updated in 2023.
The estimate includes 3 million ounces in the higher confidence indicated category and incorporates a maiden resource for the Gibraltar deposit of 5.4 million tonnes at 1g/t for 180,000 ounces.
It has been informed by 90,000 metres of drilling carried out by Minerals 260 at Bullabulling since the brownfields project formally changed hands in April.
Minerals 260 managing director Luke McFadyen said the result was validation of an exploration-heavy approach at the mine site, where production dates back to 1988.
“When we acquired this asset, we believed there was a significant opportunity to grow the MRE through an aggressive drilling campaign and improving our understanding of the geology,” he said.
“By doing this we have been able to add 2.2 million ounces and validate the previous MRE, doubling the MRE to 4.5 million ounces, and establishing Bullabulling as one of the leading gold projects in Australia.”
Mr McFadyen said the company expected to complete a prefeasibility for Bullabulling in the middle of 2026, with a target of first production late in 2028.
The resource estimate was measured against an assumed gold price of $4,500 per ounce, well down on current spot prices, with a cut-off grade of 0.4 g/t.
Led by Messrs McFadyen and Goyder, Minerals 260 acquired the Bullabulling project at a cash cost of $156.5 million and $10 million worth of scrip in a deal struck in January.
The project had been dormant from 2014, when its previous owners were acquired by China’s Zijin Mining Corporation in a hostile takeover on the ASX.
On a site visit in May, Mr McFadyen told Business News the project was a quality asset in the wrong hands.
“It sat in the wrong company,” he said.
“It’s a hundred-billion-dollar Chinese company that doesn’t do exploration.
“It’s very similar to my experience in buying other projects from other companies – they just don’t see it.”
Shares in Minerals 260 were up 22 per cent to 41.5 cents at 1.45pm.
