Barton completes Tunkillia drilling as JORC upgrades draw near
Barton Gold has completed its 39,000m phase 2 drilling campaign at the Tunkillia gold project in South Australia, with the program aimed at upgrading the project’s JORC resource classifications as the company advances a pre-feasibility study (PFS).
The five-month campaign comprised 38,760m of reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling across 311 holes, bringing the combined phase 1 and Phase 2 drilling total to 57,653m over 520 holes.
The objective is to convert mineralisation within the optimised open pits from the May 2025 Tunkillia Optimised Scoping Study into higher-confidence JORC Indicated resources, while upgrading the highest-value material within the S1 starter pit to the Measured category.
Managing director Alex Scanlon said the intensive campaign had exceeded expectations.
“Firstly, I would like to thank our incredible Barton team for their massive efforts. Our drilling programs of the past 5 months have included 4 rigs across 3 different project sites, which all then converged on Tunkillia’s ‘Phase 2’ drillout,” he said.
“Results to-date have generally exceeded expectations, with positive surprises in some zones offering material upside potential. We look forward to sharing a significant number of assays and resource upgrades in the coming months.”
The completed drilling forms part of Barton’s strategy to improve confidence in the project’s mineral resource ahead of reserve estimation and mine development.
According to the company, the S1 starter pit is modelled to produce 206,000 ounces of gold and 491,000 ounces of silver at a cash cost of A$997 per ounce, generating more than A$800 million in operating cash during its initial production period.
Phase 1 drilling previously returned several broad, high-grade intersections, including 47m at 2.67 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 44m at 3.68g/t gold and 24m at 4.49g/t gold, supporting the company’s confidence in upgrading key resource areas.
Early phase 2 assays have also indicated further upside, with standout results including 13m at 5.01g/t gold from 55m, 4m at 7.60g/t gold from 95m and 19m at 2.87g/t gold from 137m, while Barton said several intercepts exceeded expectations and could expand mineralisation within existing pit designs.
Alongside the drilling program, Barton has commenced a PFS for Tunkillia, with GR Engineering Services leading the work.
The study is expected to be completed during the first quarter of calendar year 2027 and will build on the project’s optimised scoping study, which outlined annual production of approximately 120,000 ounces of gold and 260,000 ounces of silver.
In the meantime, a mining lease application is expected to follow completion of the PFS.