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Murray Ward
Victorian gold explorer Aureka Limited has hit a stunning high-grade gold intercept at its St Arnaud project, returning a 4.4-metre section grading a solid 8.9 grams per tonne(g/t) gold and 57.8g/t silver from 102.8m downhole. The hit included a spectacular 0.3-metre core running at 65.3g/t gold, with a duplicate assay returning an even better 95.6g/t, confirming the presence of bonanza grades.
The intercept, from the main Comstock Shear only 48m below the main Comstock pit surface, significantly extends known mineralisation to the south in an area that has seen very little historical drilling and, importantly, sits within the boundary of a recently submitted production licence application.
The results are part of a broader update from the company’s 56,500-ounce gold Comstock project, which has also delivered a suite of high-grade, shallow gold hits from the Walkers Zone, where the company recently hit visible gold.
Highlights from the Walkers Zone include a 0.7-metre hit at a remarkable 57g/t gold from just 56.65m, and a separate intercept in another hole of 0.35m at a hefty 34.2g/t gold from only 21.5m.
‘Results such as these between 60g/t and up to 95g/t reinforce our strategy at Comstock.’
Aureka Limited managing director James Gurry
Other notable shallow results from the Walkers Zone include a 0.3m intercept at an eye-catching 21.3g/t gold from 35.6m and a 1.9-metre hit at 5.63g/t gold from 56.5m, which itself contained a higher-grade 0.9m section at 11.1g/t gold.
The latest results at Walkers Pit came from a 1000-metre infill diamond drilling program. The campaign consisted of six short holes averaging less than 100m in depth, designed to test the zone’s shallow, high-grade potential ahead of a planned resource update. The company says the grade tenor and lack of significant sulphides in the latest drilling suggest the mineralisation is free-milling gold, which is often easier and cheaper to process. A metallurgical testing program is set to kick off shortly to confirm this.
Aureka’s strategy at Comstock is to prove up a small-scale, high-grade, low-tonnage operation. The latest results, particularly the shallow nature of the Walkers Zone hits, appear to strongly support this plan, with a toll-milling agreement already in place with the nearby Wedderburn gold mill.
Aureka Limited managing director James Gurry said: “In 2025 one of our highlight holes was an extension to the north of the Comstock pit with 1m at 65g/t Au, now these results extend mineralisation to the south and notably within the production licence area applied for. Results such as these reinforce our strategy for smaller scale opportunistic first up production”.
While the Comstock results point to a near-term production opportunity, the company’s flagship asset is its nearby Irvine gold project, which hosts an existing 398,000-ounce inferred JORC gold resource.
Diamond drilling is currently underway at Irvine to test for extensions to the project’s 358,000-ounce Resolution Lode. The work was recently prioritised after renowned geologist Dr Barry Murphy reaffirmed the project’s significant exploration potential, flagging a hefty target of between 236,000 and 545,000 ounces of gold, in addition to the existing resource.
Dr Murphy is a seasoned operator with 40 years of experience and a track record that includes geological interpretations that led to the discovery of the colossal 5.5-million-ounce Bankan gold project in Guinea whilst working with Predictive Discovery.
Notably, the Irvine project sits just 16 kilometres from the world-class 5-million-ounce Stawell gold mine. Aureka says that despite 59km of drilling at Irvine since its discovery in 2017, the geological framework and definitive controls on mineralisation remain in their infancy, suggesting a big opportunity remains.
The company’s wider regional tenement holdings also include the Jubilee gold project near Ballarat and the Morning Bill gold and base metals project. The St Arnaud goldfield itself is a well-endowed region, with historical production records indicating that 400,000 ounces of gold were mined at a hefty average grade of 15g/t.
Aureka says it plans to use early cash flow from Comstock to help bankroll larger-scale exploration at its flagship Irvine play. With a global resource already north of 450,000 ounces and an eye on a potential million-ounce inventory at Irvine, the near-term cash from St Arnaud could be the key that unlocks a much bigger prize.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
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