Larvotto Resources is breathing new life into one of New South Wales’ historic antimony-gold mines, with its maiden diamond drilling program at the Freehold prospect delivering high-grade results that hint at a major revival.
The program has confirmed broad antimony-gold mineralisation across multiple lodes and revealed high-grade tungsten, highlighting the multi-commodity potential of the Hillgrove project.
“Larvotto’s first drilling program at the Freehold prospect has confirmed the significant upside potential of this historic mine area,” Larvotto Resources managing director Ron Heeks said.
“The results demonstrate consistent gold and antimony grades within and beyond the known lodes, and the presence of high-grade tungsten associated with the same structures, reinforce the multi-commodity potential of the Hillgrove system.”
The company said tungsten presents an opportunity to extract additional value for the project, not just from Freehold but the majority of the current mineralised lodes.
“Larvotto looks forward to continual updates on our tungsten results as we move forward,” Heeks said. “These results continue to strengthen our understanding of the area and with prices for antimony, gold and tungsten hitting record highs in 2025, we believe there is a significant opportunity to create a new underground mining centre at Freehold, adjacent to the current processing plant. Drilling in the area continues.”
The program’s standout results include 14 metres at 4.25 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent (AuEq) from 89m in FRE016, including 2.6m at 19.09 g/t AuEq, 3.5 metres at 12.46 g/t AuEq from 136m in FRE017, and 7m at 5.03 g/t AuEq from 122m in FRE019, including 3.2 metres at 8.38 g/t AuEq. Tungsten results of 0.6m at 2.23 per cent tungsten oxide (WO₃) and 0.5m at 3.43 per cent WO₃ were also identified, all associated with the same antimony-gold structures.
Freehold, located just 1.2km east of Hillgrove’s processing plant, was first mined in the late 1800s and later operated by New England Antimony Mines from 1974 to 2002, reaching a 330m deep vertical shaft with eight levels.
Larvotto’s ongoing drilling is targeting extensions of these historic lodes and exploring nearby prospects at Metz and Swamp Creek, aiming to grow the resource and re-establish Freehold as a modern underground mining hub.
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