Auric Mining has announced a 32% increase in the mineral resource at its Munda gold deposit near Widgiemooltha, Western Australia. The revised resource now stands at 4.20 million tonnes grading 1.43 grams per tonne gold for 192,000 ounces, despite depletion from recent mining operations.
The upgrade follows a successful Starter Pit campaign that exceeded production forecasts. Auric recovered 8,886 ounces of gold against a budgeted 6,100 ounces, and built an additional 2,900-ounce stockpile. Grade-control drilling during the campaign returned high-grade intercepts including 14 metres at 115.67 g/t gold.
The resource estimate is now constrained within a pit shell based on a gold price of A$7,000 per ounce, up from A$3,200 per ounce used in the 2024 estimate. The resulting pit extends nearly one kilometre along strike, up to 400 metres wide, and 200 metres deep, with the deposit remaining open along strike and at depth.
Production reconciliation showed mining delivered higher grades and about 8% more contained gold than the updated block model predicted. The revised model incorporates a less conservative treatment of high-grade samples, reflecting the discovery that rare high-grade pockets contribute more strongly to mineable grades.
Auric holds cash reserves of almost $44 million and plans to refurbish its Burbanks processing plant near Coolgardie, potentially expanding capacity from 180,000 to 500,000 tonnes per annum. A scoping study is underway to assess combined development of a larger Munda open-pit and the Burbanks facility.
