- 01Mt Ida MRE: 20.4Mt @2.8g/t, 1.84Moz.
- 02Baldock pit: 12.2Mt @3.5g/t, 1.36Moz; Indicated 437koz @3.9g/t.
- 03Underground Mt Ida: 7.9Mt @3.4g/t, 866koz.
Ballard Mining (ASX: BM1) has reported a 56% increase to the global mineral resource estimate for its Mt Ida gold project in Western Australia, as well as a 35% increase to the cornerstone Baldock resource.
The updated global MRE now sits at 20.4 million tonnes grading 2.8 grams per tonne gold for 1.84 million ounces contained gold, representing a boost of 658,000oz on the recent February update and a 63% increase since the company’s public listing in July 2025.
Baldock’s open pit total is now 12.2Mt at 3.5g/t for 1.36Moz gold (437,000oz at 3.9g/t in the higher-confidence Indicated category), representing a significant increase on the February total of 9Mt at 3.5g/t for 1Moz gold.
The Mt Ida underground MRE has also increased by 33% (or 225,000oz) to 7.9Mt at 3.4g/t for 866,000oz gold, with 98% hosted at Baldock.
The resource updates follow a total 124,626 metres of drilling since February and demonstrate substantial growth across Mt Ida’s open-pit and underground resources, with significant contributions from the Baldock, West Knell, and Golden Vale deposits and maiden resources delivered for Neptune, Pluto, and Astro-Quasar.
Baldock Deposit Geology
The high-grade Baldock deposit stretches for 3.3 kilometres within a 500m-wide corridor with mineralisation extending to at least 600m vertically.
It is open at depth and along strike and consists of multiple sub parallel zones dominantly in a plagioclase-rich anorthosite gabbro and also in the footwall and hanging wall amphibolite basalt.
Drilling after the 30 June MRE cut-off date identified extensions to the mineralisation at depth and to the south, where it remains open along strike for another 1,500m.
Ballard has planned a resource extension program at Baldock, Golden Vale, and West Knell, with which expects to convert a significant portion of the Inferred resource to Indicated and support conversion of mineral resources to ore reserves by mid-2027.
The company will shortly mobilise an air core rig to test regional targets and conduct sterilisation drilling to finalise planned infrastructure locations.
Project Quality and Scale
Managing director Paul Brennan said the MRE updates highlighted Mt Ida’s quality and scale.
“The increase in the Mt Ida resource to 1.84Moz and no change to Baldock’s high-grade tenor demonstrate this is genuine resource growth,” he said.
“The additional 658,000oz of contained gold has been delivered through a disciplined and systematic drilling program and equates to an average of 110,000oz added per month between the drilling cut-off dates for this MRE and the previous February update.”
“Importantly, the expanded resource strengthens the technical foundation for a planned feasibility study, while ongoing drilling continues to target extensions to known deposits and the conversion of inferred resources to higher confidence classifications.
“We believe Mt Ida remains relatively underexplored and recent drilling results reinforce our confidence in the project’s long-term growth potential”.
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