Auris Minerals Drilling Confirms Gold Continuity at Two Prospects
Key Takeaways
- Auris Minerals completed 22 air core holes for 1,861m at Morck Well in August 2026, returning headline intercepts of 15m @ 0.54 g/t Au from 25m at Jacques East and 10m @ 0.50 g/t Au from 35m at Frenchys South.
- Gold mineralisation at Jacques East has two interpreted components — a flat-lying supergene zone and a -65° northwest-dipping primary component — both remaining open along strike to the northeast and southwest.
- Historical drilling at Jacques East includes 15m @ 4.11 g/t Au from 35m (including 4m @ 12.8 g/t Au), confirming genuinely high-grade gold exists at depth and setting the benchmark the current 1m programme is chasing.
- More than 100 one-metre samples are now being collected from all significant composite intervals, upgrading sample weight from 0.5–0.8kg to 2–3kg per metre — a technically sound response to the nuggety gold problem that could reveal high-grade shoots masked by composite dilution.
- Auris holds an 80% interest in the Morck Well tenements across approximately 223km² of combined project area, with JV partner CuFe Ltd free-carried to Decision to Mine on the remaining 20%.
Morck Well drilling confirms gold continuity across two key prospects
All five-metre composite results are now in from Auris Minerals (ASX: AUR) follow-up air core drilling at the Morck Well Project, located 130km north of Meekatharra in the Bryah Basin, Western Australia. The programme comprised 22 holes for 1,861m drilled in August 2026 across two targets. The headline composite results were 10m @ 0.50 g/t Au from 35m at Frenchys South (FRAC0014) and 15m @ 0.54 g/t Au from 25m at Jacques East (JEAC0030).
With those results in hand, Auris is now collecting more than 100 one-metre samples from the significant intervals to sharpen the picture on potentially high-grade, nuggety gold mineralisation.
Mike Hendriks, Managing Director
“We are encouraged by the latest drilling. Further sampling of the significant 5m composite intervals at one metre intervals is currently underway which will give the company a better understanding of any high grade – nuggety gold mineralisation due to the ability to take a larger, more representative sample at 1m intervals.”
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Drilling breakdown — what the results show at each prospect
The August 2026 programme targeted two separate prospects within the Morck Well Project, each with a distinct geological question to answer.
Jacques East — testing the extent of high-grade supergene mineralisation
16 holes (JEAC0027–JEAC0042) for 1,273m were drilled along the interpreted strike of high-grade gold mineralisation. The aim was to evaluate the extent of the high-grade supergene enriched zone, test for bedrock sources to that supergene mineralisation, and better understand the structural and geological controls on mineralisation.
Gold mineralisation at Jacques East is interpreted as having two components: a flat-lying supergene component associated with regolith boundaries (interpreted over approximately 70 metres in lateral extent on section) and a -65° northwest-dipping primary component interpreted to parallel geological contacts. Both components remain open along strike to the northeast and southwest.
The results indicate potential strike extensions to previously reported high-grade supergene mineralisation. All significant 5m composite intersections from this drilling will be re-sampled at 1m intervals, providing larger and more representative 2–3kg samples per metre compared with the initial 0.5–0.8kg samples used to compile the 5m composites. That difference in sample weight is important when chasing nuggety gold, as explained in the next section.
Significant intersections from Jacques East are presented below.
| Hole ID | From (m) | To (m) | Interval (m) | Au (g/t) | Cu (ppm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JEAC0028 | 60 | 65 | 5 | 0.119 | 48.9 |
| JEAC0029 | 10 | 15 | 5 | 0.491 | 71.0 |
| JEAC0029 | 65 | 70 | 5 | 0.658 | 142.0 |
| JEAC0029 | 80 | 85 | 5 | 0.113 | 110.5 |
| JEAC0030 | 10 | 15 | 5 | 0.167 | 75.4 |
| JEAC0030 | 25 | 40 | 15 | 0.54 | 86.6 |
| JEAC0033 | 40 | 45 | 5 | 0.164 | 106.5 |
| JEAC0034 | 45 | 55 | 10 | 0.51 | 111.0 |
| JEAC0035 | 90 | 95 | 5 | 0.231 | 72.4 |
| JEAC0039 | 55 | 60 | 5 | 0.249 | 183.5 |
| JEAC0039 | 75 | 79 | 4 | 0.647 | 152.0 |
| JEAC0041 | 10 | 15 | 5 | 0.164 | 102.5 |
| JEAC0042 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 0.501 | 39.3 |
| JEAC0042 | 10 | 11 | 1 | 0.179 | 114.5 |
Frenchys South — infill drilling along a 1.4km gold trend
6 holes (FRAC0011–FRAC0016) for 588m were drilled at 25m spacing around three previously gold-anomalous holes to evaluate the distribution and tenor of mineralisation at closer drill spacing along the 1.4km interpreted mineralised trend.
Historical significant intersections at Frenchys South (prior results) include:
- 18m @ 1.09 g/t Au from 35m (MWAC1703)
- 5m @ 1.14 g/t Au from 70m (MWAC1629)
- 3m @ 1.22 g/t Au from 70m (MWAC1715)
The standout hole from the current programme was FRAC0014, which returned three separate intervals suggesting multi-level mineralisation within the weathering profile:
- FRAC0012: 5m @ 0.41 g/t Au from 50m
- FRAC0013: 5m @ 0.108 g/t Au from 15m
- FRAC0014: 10m @ 0.50 g/t Au from 35m; 5m @ 0.478 g/t Au from 55m; 5m @ 0.289 g/t Au from 70m
What is supergene gold mineralisation and why does it matter?
Supergene gold forms when primary, bedrock-hosted gold is chemically mobilised by weathering processes over geological time and re-concentrated near the surface, typically at the boundary between the weathered zone (saprolite) and fresh rock beneath it.
Two features make supergene zones particularly interesting for early-stage explorers. First, they can be higher grade than the primary mineralisation that sourced them. Second, they sit close to surface, which makes them cheaper to drill and potentially simpler to mine.
The technical challenge with supergene gold is that it is often “nuggety” — meaning the gold occurs as small, high-grade particles distributed unevenly through the rock. A 5m composite sample typically yields only 0.5–0.8kg of material, which may not capture a representative distribution of those particles and can therefore dilute or miss high-grade zones entirely. Moving to 1m sampling at 2–3kg per metre is the technically sound response to that problem. Auris is applying exactly this methodology at both prospects, which gives investors confidence the follow-up programme is geologically grounded.
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What’s next — 1m sampling to sharpen the picture
More than 100 one-metre samples are currently being collected from all significant (≥0.1 g/t Au) 5m composite intervals across both Jacques East and Frenchys South. The objective is to identify higher-grade shoots within the broader mineralised envelopes already outlined by the composite programme.
The scale of the upside being tested at Jacques East is framed by the following historical results (prior drilling, not current results):
- 15m @ 4.11 g/t Au from 35m including 4m @ 12.8 g/t Au from 38m (JEAC0001, August 2023)
- 7m @ 6.09 g/t Au from 48m including 3m @ 10.6 g/t Au from 49m (MWAC2225, July 2020)
- 1m @ 8.47 g/t Au from 76m (MWAC2226, July 2020)
Those historical intersections confirm that genuinely high-grade gold has existed at this prospect. The 1m sampling programme is designed to determine whether the current drilling has intercepted similar shoots masked by composite dilution.
Auris has stated it looks forward to providing an update once the 1m sampling results are received. The company holds approximately 223km² across its Forrest and Morck Well project areas, with an 80% interest in the Morck Well tenements (CuFe Ltd holds the remaining 20%, free carried to Decision to Mine).
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