MRT Hits 25 g/t Gold at Burbanks as Phase 2 Drilling Wraps

Maritana Minerals (ASX: MRT) has completed Phase 2 diamond drilling at its Burbanks Underground gold project near Coolgardie, with early assay results confirming high-grade gold mineralisation continues at depth beneath the Main Lode zone.

The result matters because Burbanks is not yet included in Maritana’s life-of-mine plan for the wholly owned Black Swan Processing Hub (BSPH), a centralised processing facility designed to receive ore from multiple feed sources. Every positive drilling result at Burbanks is a step toward a material inclusion that has not yet been priced in as a certainty, and this Phase 2 programme delivers another one.

Here is what you need to know: what the Phase 2 intercepts actually show, why the resource reclassification pathway from these results matters more than the headline grades alone, and what the upcoming Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) milestones in the September and December 2026 quarters mean for the MRT investment thesis.

What Phase 2 drilling found at Burbanks Underground

The Phase 2 programme brought together 20 diamond drill holes across roughly 6,400 metres of drilling, with work split between infill holes inside the existing resource boundary and step-outs aimed at testing how far the Main Lode mineralisation extends at depth. Assays from the first 11 holes have now been returned, with results from the remaining 9 holes still pending.

The headline intercepts from those first 11 holes:

• The strongest result came in at 0.48 metres grading 25.19 g/t gold, intersected from 224.63 metres downhole
• A second notable interval returned 0.76 metres at 9.02 g/t gold from 231.42 metres, with a sharper high-grade core of 0.38 metres at 16.41 g/t gold recorded within that same interval

The 0.48 metre intersection at 25.19 g/t gold, starting at 224.63 metres depth, stands as the programme’s most significant result, demonstrating that robust grades within the Main Lode system hold up well below the previously drilled extents.

These are narrow intercepts, and that is worth addressing directly. The Burbanks shear is a narrow-vein system. Width is not the metric that defines success here; grade continuity at depth is. A half-metre intercept running above 25 g/t gold at more than 224 metres downhole tells you the mineralised structure is behaving consistently, and that it remains open beneath the areas already drilled.

A technical detail worth noting: drill holes in the Phase 2 programme were set up using portal positions on neighbouring ground controlled by Auric Mining, a deliberate design choice to optimise the angle at which holes intersected the target structures. That is not opportunistic sampling. It is a deliberate methodological choice to get the best possible angle on the target structures, which adds confidence to the geological interpretation.

For context on programme scale, the earlier Phase 1 diamond drilling campaign covered 53 holes across a combined 15,798 metres of drilling, with that work focused on improving geological confidence across both the Burbanks North open pit and underground areas. Phase 2 is a more targeted campaign: fewer holes, sharper objectives, and a specific focus on depth extension.

Rapid resource growth at Western Australian gold projects has become a recurring theme in the Goldfields region, where systematic infill and step-out drilling programmes have repeatedly converted narrow-vein systems from early-stage Inferred resources into commercially significant Indicated classifications within a compressed timeframe.

Why structural continuity is the real story here

The individual intercept grades matter, but they are not the headline. The headline is what those grades, returning consistently at depth from a well-understood shear structure, tell you about the geological model.

Consistent high-grade results at depth reinforce the continuity of the Burbanks shear and the structural controls on mineralisation beneath the Main Lode. When drilling confirms that the geological architecture behaves the way the model predicts it should, it does two things simultaneously: it grows the resource at depth, and it improves the confidence level in the existing resource.

That confidence level is where the real value sits for investors. An Inferred resource, the lowest confidence classification under the JORC Code (the Australian standard for reporting mineral resources), cannot underpin formal mine planning. An Indicated resource, the next level up, can. The difference is not academic. It is the specific gate that determines whether Burbanks can be formally scheduled as an ore feed source for BSPH.

The distinction between Inferred and Indicated sits at the heart of JORC Code classification, and it is the specific threshold that determines whether Burbanks can formally underpin mine planning at BSPH rather than remaining a speculative feed source.

The JORC Code resource classification framework defines the confidence thresholds separating Inferred from Indicated mineral resources, with drill spacing, geological continuity, and grade predictability each forming part of the assessment that determines whether a resource can support formal mine planning.

From exploration result to mine plan: the classification bridge

Upgrading a resource from Inferred to Indicated requires tighter drill spacing, more detailed geological modelling, and meeting higher confidence thresholds for grade and continuity. That is exactly what the Phase 1 and Phase 2 programmes are designed to deliver. Each programme that confirms grade and structural continuity brings Burbanks closer to the point where management can formally include it in BSPH mine planning, a step that remains conditional, not guaranteed.

MRE milestones and the Black Swan integration case

Two MRE updates sit ahead, and they form the clearest investor checkpoint sequence for tracking Burbanks’ progression.

The integration logic is straightforward. BSPH is wholly owned by Maritana Minerals and is designed to process ore from multiple sources. Burbanks Underground is positioned as a potential supplementary feed source, but its inclusion requires a specific sequence of steps:

• Resource conversion from Inferred to Indicated through drilling and updated MRE work
• Positive ore reserve studies demonstrating economic viability
• Formal inclusion in the BSPH life-of-mine schedule

The Burbanks project sits in the Western Australian Goldfields, positioned roughly nine kilometres to the south of Coolgardie, and Maritana has planned additional drilling at Burbanks South in the next quarter. That signals management confidence in extending the resource footprint before the MRE work is finalised, rather than pausing to wait for results.

On the morning of 27 August 2026, before the market opened, Maritana shares were trading at 80.5 cents, which placed the company’s market capitalisation at $299.3 million.

What the Burbanks results mean for the MRT investment case right now

Drilling in Phase 2 has validated grade persistence at depth, reinforced the structural interpretation of the Main Lode, and demonstrated consistency in mineralisation below the previously tested zone. They do not, on their own, deliver a reserve declaration or a formal inclusion in the mine plan.

That distinction matters. Burbanks is progressively de-risking, not de-risked. Managing Director and CEO Grant Haywood has framed Burbanks as a potential supplementary ore feed source for BSPH, not the primary driver of throughput. Today’s announcement advances the probability of integration without guaranteeing it, and investors tracking MRT should calibrate accordingly.

For investors calibrating how much weight to place on drill results ahead of a formal reserve declaration, our full explainer on mineral exploration risk assessment covers the specific decision points between an exploration result and a bankable feasibility study, including what each stage of de-risking actually removes from the investment equation.

“This content is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Readers should undertake their own due diligence and seek guidance from a qualified financial adviser before making any investment decisions.”

The next concrete trigger for a material shift in the thesis sits at the December 2026 MRE. If that update, incorporating the full Phase 2 dataset, delivers meaningful Inferred-to-Indicated conversion, it would formally position Burbanks for the reserve studies that precede BSPH inclusion.

What investors should watch through the December quarter

The September 2026 MRE update is the first checkpoint. Watch for the scale of Inferred-to-Indicated reclassification, not just the headline resource number. A large resource that remains predominantly Inferred tells a different story from a smaller one that has shifted materially into Indicated.

Pending assays from the remaining 9 Phase 2 holes are the data input that will determine whether the December MRE continues the positive trend. If those results match the grade and continuity profile of the first 11 holes, the case for depth extension strengthens further.

Burbanks South drilling in the next quarter is a watch item in its own right. If management is committing capital to extending the resource footprint before the MRE is finalised, it signals internal confidence in what the data is showing.

One broader point: Maritana’s multi-asset feed strategy for BSPH means Burbanks is one of several projects being advanced in parallel. That reduces the binary risk of any single result and gives the company multiple pathways to extend mine life, a structural feature that investors often underweight when tracking individual drill programmes.

A multi-asset feed strategy like the one Maritana is executing at BSPH is a deliberate form of project optionality, where maintaining several parallel ore sources reduces the company’s dependence on any single resource conversion outcome and preserves flexibility as each programme matures.