Auric Mining has announced a significant upgrade to its flagship Munda gold deposit near Widgiemooltha, located 82 kilometres south of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. The revised resource has increased by 32 per cent to 4.20 million tonnes, grading 1.43 grams per tonne (g/t) gold for 192,000 ounces, despite depletion from recent mining activities.
Project Inventory and Starter Pit Success
The broader project inventory now stands at 4.26 million tonnes grading 1.42 g/t gold for 194,000 ounces when remaining stockpiles are included. This upgrade follows a standout Starter Pit campaign that exceeded forecasts and enhanced the company's understanding of high-grade gold distribution within the deposit.
Dense 5-metre-by-5-metre grade-control drilling conducted during mining yielded impressive true-width intersections, including 14 metres grading 115.67 g/t gold, 10 metres grading 40.31 g/t gold, and 6 metres grading 66.44 g/t gold.
Production Exceeds Expectations
The Starter Pit surpassed production targets, with Auric recovering 8,886 ounces of gold against a budgeted 6,100 ounces, and building an additional 2,900-ounce stockpile for future processing. Production reconciliation further supported the upgrade, as mining delivered higher grades and approximately eight per cent more contained gold than the updated block model predicted, reinforcing confidence in the revised estimate.
The resource uplift was not driven by new drilling but by insights gained from the Starter Pit, which was originally designed as a proof-of-concept operation to test the resource model and improve Auric's understanding of the mineralisation.
Geological Insights and Market Factors
Munda hosts a broad disseminated gold system developed mainly within basalt units, controlled by the intersection of a southeast-dipping fault or shear and volcanic layering. Mining revealed that rare high-grade pockets contribute more significantly to mineable grades than previously modelled, prompting a less conservative treatment of high-grade samples in the new estimate.
The revised model also reflects a dramatically stronger gold market. Auric's latest resource is constrained within a pit shell generated at a gold price of A$7,000 per ounce, compared with A$3,200 per ounce used in the 2024 estimate. The resulting pit extends almost one kilometre along strike, reaches up to 400 metres in width, and extends to a depth of 200 metres. Notably, the deposit remains open along strike and at depth, while mining performance continues to suggest the updated estimate remains conservative.
Strategic Implications
Auric Mining managing director Mark English commented: "The Starter Pit enabled us to build our knowledge and experience in our self-mining capability and generate substantial cash reserves. These cash reserves will allow us to progress the greater Munda and Burbanks operation and transform the Company into a fully integrated mining house."
The result aligns with Auric's broader strategy of becoming a fully integrated gold producer. The company has generated substantial cash from Munda and its highly profitable Jeffreys Find operation, while recent executive hires have strengthened its mine-to-mill capability. Auric now boasts a growing resource base, strong cash reserves of almost $44 million, and a simple processing plan to pair its mining operations with owner-operated processing.
Burbanks Processing Plant
Central to this ambition is the 100 per cent-owned Burbanks processing plant, located just south of Coolgardie and 70 kilometres north of Munda in the heart of the Coolgardie-Widgiemooltha gold corridor. The company aims to refurbish and potentially expand the facility from 180,000 to 500,000 tonnes per annum, reducing reliance on third-party processors and capturing more value from every ounce produced.
Next Steps
Further drilling at Munda is planned for both resource growth and infill conversion, with planning underway to test extensions beyond the current resource envelope. A scoping study is also being conducted to assess the combined development of a larger Munda open-pit and the Burbanks processing facility, particularly as the company sees additional scope to access deeper, high-grade lodes beneath the pit through underground mining.
Munda has become a valuable asset for Auric, with the resource still open, drilling set to resume, and a company-owned mill waiting in the wings. The project is increasingly shaping up as the foundation stone of a much larger Western Australian gold business.
