Victorian gold explorer Aureka has capped off the June 2025 quarter with a key gold discovery and mineral resource increase.
In March, Aureka secured 97 hectares neighbouring its Irvine project, paving the way for uninterrupted exploration to take place.
Less than two months later, gold mineralisation on the western flank of the Irvine Basalt was confirmed, marking Aureka’s first drilling success outside the known eastern resource zone.
Around the same time in late May, Aureka increased its gold inventory from 304,000 ounces (oz) to over 360,000oz, representing a 19 per cent jump.
The growth was credited to the St Arnaud gold project achieving a maiden mineral resource of 1.45 million tonnes at 1.21 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold for 56,500oz, and an exploration target range estimate of 112,000–116,000oz of gold.
“It was pleasing during the June quarter to have all our key projects move forward meaningfully with the western flank discovery at Irvine in the Stawell corridor, followed by a maiden JORC resource at the St Arnaud project,” Aureka managing director James Gurry said.
“To grow our global JORC gold inventory by near 20 per cent on purely historic drilling during the quarter speaks to the vast untapped value within the Aureka project portfolio across Victoria.”
Aureka also launched a successful $3 million share placement at $0.13 per share during the June quarter.
Over 23 million ordinary shares were placed to wholesale investors comprising small-cap focussed institutional funds and strategic high-net worth/family offices, bringing Aureka’s total shares on issue to about 126 million.
Gurry said Aureka was “humbled to receive such strong support” from investors and the funds will aid the company in its “continuous exploration activities and longer-term project derisking initiatives including permanent land access”.
For the rest of 2025, Aureka will prioritise returning assays from ongoing diamond drilling at Irvine and St Arnaud, refining targets for Irvine, St Arnaud and Tandarra, and evaluating potential resource upgrades at Irvine and St Arnaud.
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