Capricorn Metals has increased its mineral resource estimate (MRE) by 13 per cent at its Mt Gibson gold project in WA.
This follows ongoing drilling, increasing the MRE to a total of 149.2 million tonnes (Mt) at 0.9 grams per tonne (g/t) for 4.5 million ounces (Moz) of gold. This represents an increase of 507,000oz from the MRE announced in November 2024.
A key contributor to this increase is the Orion South underground deposit, which has delivered an inferred resource of 6.84Mt at 3.1g/t gold for 684,000oz.
The Highway deposit has also been included for the first time, adding 3.93Mt at 0.9g/t gold for 110,000 ounces.
These additions lift Capricorn’s combined group MRE, including the Karlawinda gold project, to 247.8Mt at 0.85g/t gold for 6.8Moz. This compares to 6.2Moz reported in November 2024.
“The reporting of a maiden underground gold resource of 684,000 ounces at Mt Gibson is a very important milestone and early validation of our long-held belief that this project will evolve into a long mine life, combined open pit and underground mining operation,” Capricorn Metals executive chairman Mark Clark said.
“This resource represents only the very start of the underground story at Mt Gibson and we are now committed to a strategy of growing the resource, delivering ore reserves and doing the work to include these higher grade underground zones into the mine plan.”
Infill and extensional drilling will continue at Orion South to convert the inferred MRE to indicated, with additional drilling currently underway to continue to grow the reported MRE.
The company is also conducting trade-off studies to determine the best interface between open pit and underground operations.
Drilling highlights from Orion South include high-grade intercepts such as 13.5m at 5.29g/t and 6m at 8.37g/t, supporting Capricorn’s confidence in the underground potential.
Underground MREs are expected to follow at Lexington and Hornet based on current and planned drilling programs. A maiden ore reserve at the Highway deposit is anticipated in the first quarter of the 2025–26 financial year (FY26).
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