Minerals 260 (ASX: MI6) has doubled the contained gold at its Bullabulling project in Western Australia to 4.5 million ounces, establishing it as one of the nation’s leading gold developments.
The company announced an upgraded resource estimate for the project of 130 million tonnes grading 1 gram per tonne gold for 4.5Moz, representing a 2.2Moz (or 96%) increase on the contained gold ounces released in its maiden estimate last year.
Approximately 3Moz (or 67%) is in the indicated category—a 1.6Moz boost on the maiden estimate.
Resource Estimate Extensions
The company’s drilling of 434 new holes for a total 90,650m during the year underpinned the upgrade, as did an updated pit shell gold price of $4,500 per ounce, a cut-off grade of 0.4g/t gold, and metallurgical recoveries of 92%.
Drilling confirmed ++extensions of the resource estimate++ at depth at the Phoenix, Bacchus, Kraken, and Dicksons deposits, supporting an increased depth of 100m in some areas of the pit shell.
Included in Bullabulling’s new resource estimate is a maiden resource for the Gibraltar deposit – located approximately 3 kilometres east of Kraken – totalling 5.4Mt at 1g/t gold for 180,000oz.
‘Aggressive Drilling Campaign’
Managing director Luke McFadyen said the Bullabulling resource upgrade was an “exceptional” outcome for the company.
“When we acquired this asset, we believed there was a significant opportunity to grow the resource estimate through an aggressive drilling campaign and improving the understanding of the geology,” he said.
“By doing this, we have been able to add 2.2Moz to double the previous estimate to 4.5Moz and establish Bullabulling as one of the leading gold projects in Australia.”
Mr McFadyen said the company was working on a project pre-feasibility study for release next year and was building “significant momentum” towards its goal of becoming a major gold producer in 2028.
Long Mining History
Located approximately 25km west-southwest of Coolgardie and 65km southwest of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in WA’s Goldfields-Esperance region, Bullabulling sits within the Yilgarn Craton, a large granite-greenstone terrain with an aerial extent in excess of 750,000 sq km.
Following several phases of gold exploration dating back to the 1970s, open pit mining commenced in 1988, with ore first treated in a heap leach operation and then from 1995 at an onsite carbon-in-leach facility.
The operation was suspended in 1998 and sold in 2002, eventually acquired by Norton Gold Fields, which in turn divested the asset to Minerals 260 for a total consideration of $166.5 million during the first quarter of 2025.
Minerals 260 has an extensive work program planned at the project in 2026, including infill and extensional drilling; initial testing of regional targets; ongoing stakeholder engagement, environmental assessments, and finalisation of regulatory approvals; and various other planning and design tasks.
