Reach tightens grip on WA Murchison gold with second mining lease

Reach Resources has added serious weight to its Murchison South gold ambitions near Payne’s Find in Western Australia after securing a second granted mining lease that stitches together historic pits, underexplored ground and multiple development options just as gold prices continue to glitter.

The newly granted mining lease folds the East Daffodil gold deposit into the company’s existing footprint and merges it with its Pansy Pit lease, which already hosts an inferred resource of 72,000 tonnes at 2.5 grams per tonne (g/t) for 5,800 ounces of gold. 

Sitting alongside the historic Shamrock and Daffodil open pits, the lease places Reach on top of some of the most prospective real estate along the Primrose Fault – the region’s main gold-bearing structure.

East Daffodil and Pansy offer clear upside and development options. East Daffodil is a high-priority growth target that has seen only very limited shallow drilling, with the deepest hole stopping at just 29 metres.

Reach Resources chief executive officer Jeremy Bower said: “The grant of this second new mining lease at Murchison South marks the start of an exciting period for Reach. We now control three granted mining leases covering the most prospective portions of the Primrose Fault, giving the Company a dominant position in this highly mineralised corridor.”

The new mining lease sits immediately south-east of Reach’s Blue Heaven deposit, the company’s near-term development focus, where open-along-strike mineralisation underpins a solid resource of 681,000 tonnes at 2.8g/t for more than 61,000 ounces of gold.

The gold-bearing system at Blue Heaven has been intercepted down to 200 metres below surface with only a handful of holes and clearly offers resource growth potential.

With multiple mineralised zones now sitting on granted tenure, the company can weigh up different development scenarios rather than being locked into a single pathway. 

Infrastructure is another major tick in the box. The project sits within a kilometre of the Great Northern Highway, has access to accommodation and a toll treatment plant about 75 kilometres away, which is currently being refurbished. 

The timing of the new lease looks fortuitous, given the current booming gold price and the steady stream of news flow from the company expected in the near term. Reach will shortly announce metallurgy results, reverse circulation drilling outcomes and rock chip sampling. 

In particular, rock chips collected in December are expected to deliver a first-pass read on surface gold and the abundant quartz veins outcropping in the area, potentially guiding the next phase of drilling.

Those results will feed into an updated mineral resource estimate and the completion of a scoping study, which management sees as key milestones in shaping future development decisions.

With gold prices holding firm and the company steadily removing technical and permitting hurdles, the second mining lease does more than expand the map. It appears to materially lift the scale, flexibility and long-term value of the Murchison South gold project. It may also enhance the potential for two viable mining centres, putting Reach in a strong position as it heads into 2026 with momentum firmly on its side.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au