Barton Gold Begins Resource Upgrade Drilling at Tunkillia’s High-Value Starter Pits

Barton Gold Holdings (ASX: BGD) (OTCQB: BGDFF) has begun resource upgrade drilling at the optimised Stage 1 and Stage 2 ‘starter pits’ within its Tunkillia gold project in South Australia.

The first phase of the campaign will comprise 209 holes for a total 18,270 metres of reverse circulation (RC) work to convert resources at the high-value open pits to the measured and indicated categories.

A second phase of RC and diamond drilling planned for 2026 will target the conversion of indicated mineralisation and expand the project’s geotechnical and metallurgical databases for further pit design optimisation, along with detailed recovery and production modelling.

Production and Returns

Barton expects Tunkillia’s Stage 1 starter pit to produce approximately 206,000 ounces of gold and 491,000oz silver during the first 13 months of operation, while Stage 2 will output 159,000oz gold and 432,000oz silver over the following 14 months.

The pits will return a combined $825 million operating free cash during the first 13 months at a cash cost of $997 per gold ounce, paying back upfront capital costs more than twice over during this time.

They will generate a total $1.3 billion operating free cash during the first 27 months at an average cash cost of $1429/oz gold to pay back the same cost more than three times over.

Expedited Drilling Programs

An optimised scoping study in May demonstrated the financial and capital leverage available to a larger-scale bulk processing operation at Tunkillia.

Prospective development and finance partners have since approached Barton with a view to expediting development drilling programs to support the conversion of resources to ore reserves and the commencement of feasibility studies.

The company is targeting the submission of a mining lease application by the end of 2026.

Optimal Path Evaluation

Barton managing director Alex Scanlon said the team was keen to complete the resource upgrade campaign.

“We expect upgrade drilling will expedite development and financing discussions for Tunkillia while we evaluate the optimal path forward,” he said.

“We are aiming to generate maximum optionality for the project’s development and have a lot of work planned before we submit a mining lease application next year.”