Brightstar Returns 225m Gold Intercept Ahead of November PFS

Brightstar Resources drilled 225.7 metres averaging 3.11 g/t gold at its Two Mile Hill deposit in Western Australia, including a one-metre peak assay of 449 g/t gold. The result, reported on 27 August 2026, is one of the widest high-grade intercepts returned by any junior gold developer on the ASX this year.

The intercept sits within the Two Mile Hill-Shillington tonalite, part of Brightstar’s broader 2.9 million ounce Sandstone gold project. Width matters here as much as grade: a mineralised interval this thick, hosted in a continuous intrusive body, is what separates a bulk underground mining target from a narrow-vein prospect that requires a fundamentally different economic model.

These infill results arrive ahead of a mineral resource estimate update and pre-feasibility study (PFS) both targeted for November 2026. Here is what the drilling data actually confirms, what it means for the underground mining thesis, and what still depends on roughly 1,014 metres of diamond tail assays yet to be returned.

What the headline hole at Two Mile Hill actually returned

Hole TMHRCD26006A delivered the standout result: 225.7m at 3.11 g/t gold from 284m depth, unconstrained, within the Two Mile Hill-Shillington tonalite host intrusion.

Two sub-intervals carry the weight. The first spans 19m at 24.3 g/t gold from 306m, carrying the programme’s peak individual reading. Below that, a 19.1m interval at 2.76 g/t from 477m holds a 0.8m sub-interval at 37.9 g/t gold, demonstrating that above-average grades continue well into the lower sections of the hole.

Standout assay: Within the 19m high-grade zone, a single metre at 322m depth returned 449 g/t gold, the highest individual reading from the June infill programme.

A second hole corroborates the picture. TMHRCD26004 cut an unconstrained 194m at 2.10 g/t gold from 286m, with elevated sub-intervals of 13m at 4.35 g/t from 322m and 6m at 5.54 g/t from 450m. In both holes, mineralisation remained present at the bottom of the assayed interval, so neither intercept is constrained by the end of the hole.

Two independent holes, drilled into the same intrusive body, both returning mineralised widths exceeding 190 metres with multiple high-grade sub-intervals distributed throughout. That pattern tells you that elevated gold mineralisation is spread broadly through the tonalite, not clustered in isolated shoots. For a bulk underground mining scenario, that distinction is the one that matters most.

Why width and continuity matter more than peak grade alone

A one-metre reading of 449 g/t gold is spectacular on paper. But for an underground mine to work at scale, it is the width of the mineralised envelope, not the peak assay, that drives the economics. A narrow vein carrying exceptional grade requires selective mining methods with high unit costs. A broad, continuously mineralised body allows bulk extraction at lower cost per tonne.

The Two Mile Hill-Shillington tonalite behaves like the latter. Within the shallower infill zone targets, the tonalite host runs to around 80 metres in thickness. At depth, it expands. An earlier extensional hole had already returned 305.4m at 1.82 g/t gold from 351.9m depth, confirming that thickness and grade continuity hold across multiple drilling campaigns, not just the June programme.

An earlier extensional hole had already returned 305.4m at 1.82 g/t gold from 351.9m depth, confirming that thickness and grade continuity hold across multiple drilling campaigns, not just the June programme.

The June infill programme itself was substantial:

• Six reverse circulation holes covering roughly 1,500m of total drilling
• 22 reverse circulation pre-collars paired with diamond tails, totalling around 10,800m
• Two dedicated diamond holes summing to roughly 300m

Two diamond tails from the programme, together amounting to around 1,014m, still have assays pending as of 27 August. That means the current dataset is a partial read of a much larger programme. The results already returned are strong; the outstanding assays could only add to the picture.

For investors, this is where the technical detail converts into an investment signal. Two Mile Hill is not producing isolated high-grade hits that look good in a headline but struggle to support a mine plan. It is producing broad, consistent mineralisation through a large intrusive body. That is the geometry a bulk underground operation requires.

From Inferred to Indicated: what the infill programme is actually designed to achieve

Drilling more holes into a deposit that already contains 731,000 ounces might seem redundant. It is not. The infill programme is not about finding more gold. It is about proving that the gold already identified is where Brightstar thinks it is, with enough confidence to satisfy the JORC Code’s classification requirements.

A JORC Resource is a concentration of minerals in the ground with reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction, classified by confidence level as Inferred, Indicated, or Measured. Inferred is the lowest confidence category; Indicated requires tighter drill spacing and greater geological certainty. The distinction matters because Indicated resources are what lenders and joint venture partners require before providing project finance. You cannot fund a mine on Inferred material alone.

The JORC resource classification framework underpins every confidence-level distinction a project financier or joint venture partner applies when assessing whether a deposit is fundable, which is why the infill programme’s drill spacing decisions are as commercially significant as the grades themselves.

The current Two Mile Hill-Shillington resource stands at:

• The deposit hosts 14.6 million tonnes grading 1.6 g/t gold, representing roughly 731,000 ounces of contained metal
• That inventory sits inside the broader Sandstone project, which totals approximately 2.9 million ounces

The infill programme targets tighter drill spacing in key zones to support reclassification from Inferred to Indicated. Both the resource estimate update incorporating this data and the PFS are scheduled for delivery in November 2026.

Brightstar Managing Director Alex Rovira stated that the results validate both the grade and scale of the Two Mile Hill deposit, reinforcing the concept of a potential future underground operation.

For investors tracking junior gold developers, the November 2026 resource update is the event that matters. If a material portion of Two Mile Hill’s ounces move from Inferred to Indicated, the project shifts from exploration-stage confidence to study-ready certainty, making it legible to project financiers for the first time.

The November 2026 PFS window and what else is drilling at Sandstone

Two Mile Hill is the flagship deposit, but it is not the only active target. Brightstar is running a multi-deposit, multi-rig programme across the Sandstone hub, and the November 2026 PFS sits at the centre of a concentrated de-risking window.

The PFS has been prepared in collaboration with engineering consultant Entech and is scheduled for publication in November 2026, concurrent with the refreshed mineral resource estimate. It will incorporate the underground mining assessment for Two Mile Hill-Shillington and provide the first formal economic evaluation of the bulk underground concept.

Active drilling continues across the broader project:

• Two reverse circulation rigs running infill work at other Sandstone deposits, including the Indomitable Camp
• One diamond rig targeting the Shirvington Zone at depth, testing for resource growth beyond the current 2.9 million ounce base

Recent campaigns at Bull Oak and Achilles have also returned thick, high-grade intercepts, reinforcing that Sandstone hosts multiple mineralised centres rather than a single-deposit story.

Brightstar’s multi-deposit development strategy at Sandstone, spanning Two Mile Hill, Bull Oak, Achilles, Indomitable, and the Shirvington Zone, is designed so that the PFS can draw on a combined resource base rather than depending on any single deposit to underwrite the project economics.

And the approximately 1,014m of outstanding diamond tail assays from the June programme means further results are expected before the November update, adding another layer of near-term news flow for investors tracking the stock.

The combination of a firm PFS date, outstanding assay data, and active drilling across multiple deposits means several catalysts are converging within a short window. For the underground mining thesis, November 2026 is where the technical work meets its first formal economic test.

What the Two Mile Hill data changes, and what November will confirm

The 27 August results have materially advanced three things: geological confidence in the tonalite as a bulk-mineable host, the resource classification pathway from Inferred toward Indicated, and the credibility of the November 2026 PFS as a genuine development milestone rather than an aspirational target.

The picture remains incomplete. Roughly 1,014m of diamond tail assays are still outstanding, and further news flow is expected before the resource update lands. What has been returned so far points in one direction, but the full dataset will determine how much of Two Mile Hill’s resource base gets reclassified.

For investors, the next three months represent a period of elevated information density: outstanding assays, a resource estimate update, and a PFS release are all scheduled to land within a single quarter. That makes Sandstone one of the more catalyst-rich junior gold stories on the ASX heading into the end of 2026.

Brightstar’s trajectory toward a November PFS places it within a cohort of buildable gold developers that institutional investors have been repricing in 2026, as the market differentiates between study-ready projects with bulk-mineable geometry and earlier-stage exploration plays.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Investors should conduct their own research and consult with financial professionals before making investment decisions.