Haranga Resources Drills Underground at Lincoln to Unlock 402koz Gold PFS
Key Takeaways
- Phase 2 underground diamond drilling has commenced at Lincoln with Swick's rig onsite and the first hole (DDH0294, approximately 230 metres) near completion as of 17 September 2026.
- The 16-hole, 1,500-metre programme directly targets the reclassification of Inferred to Indicated Resources — a prerequisite for Ore Reserve conversion and a Preliminary Feasibility Study.
- 77% of Lincoln's 402,000-ounce resource at 5.1 g/t gold sits in the Inferred category, making this drilling programme the single most important near-term catalyst for the project's development pathway.
- Haranga is folding existing Scoping Study work into the PFS rather than completing a standalone study first, a decision the CEO says is designed to reduce the overall study timeline for Lincoln.
- Management has flagged updates on the overall redevelopment strategy in coming weeks, creating a defined near-term catalyst window alongside active drilling results.
Drills turn at Lincoln as Haranga advances resource upgrade pathway
Phase 2 underground diamond drilling has commenced at Haranga Resources’ (ASX: HAR) Lincoln Gold Project in California, with Swick’s underground diamond drill rig now onsite and the first hole (DDH0294) underway from cross-cut 11 (XC11) as of 17 September 2026. This milestone follows the completion of a year-long mine dewatering programme that ran from September 2025 to September 2026 and was a prerequisite for underground access.
The significance is straightforward: this is the operational step that begins the journey from Inferred to Indicated Resources. That classification shift is what unlocks Ore Reserve conversion and, ultimately, a Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) assessing full project economics.
DDH0294 is the longest hole in the programme at approximately 230 metres and was near completion at the time of the announcement.
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What the Phase 2 programme targets and why it matters
The programme comprises 16 HQ diamond holes for approximately 1,500 metres total (DDH0294–DDH0309), focusing on the southern portion of the Lincoln Resource and an under-drilled area between the Lincoln and Comet zones.
Two objectives guide the design:
- Primary: Improve geological confidence and knowledge of the Mineral Resources to support, in time, the potential reclassification of Inferred Resources to Indicated Resources
- Secondary: Incrementally expand total Mineral Resources
After DDH0294, drilling is planned to retreat from XC11 out to XC10 and XC9 with shorter fan holes targeting the under-drilled section between the Lincoln and Comet zones. Critically, no underground drilling has previously been completed from XC10, leaving a meaningful data gap that Phase 2 directly addresses.
The path to this Phase 2 programme runs through the earlier drilling work that established the deposit’s initial geological footprint, with the maiden JORC resource at Lincoln built on high-grade assay results that first defined the Lincoln-Comet and Medean zones in their current form.
The programme has been designed to achieve three specific outcomes:
- Intersect multiple interpreted mineralised lodes within the southern portion of the Lincoln Resource
- Improve confidence in the geological model approaching the historical Old Lincoln workings
- Provide additional information on the orientation of mineralisation and the relationship between the interpreted structural domains
Understanding the JORC classification ladder — and why Indicated Resources unlock the PFS
The JORC Code 2012 establishes a hierarchy for classifying a mineral deposit’s confidence level. At the exploration end sits Inferred Resources (least geological certainty), followed by Indicated Resources, and then Measured Resources (highest certainty). These feed separately into Ore Reserves, classified as Probable (from Indicated or Measured) and Proved (from Measured).
The critical step for Lincoln is the Inferred-to-Indicated reclassification. Under the JORC Code, Indicated Resources are the minimum classification that can be converted to Ore Reserves, a conversion that requires the completion of at least a Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS).
The current challenge at Lincoln is scale: 77% of the project’s contained gold ounces sit in the Inferred category. Phase 2 drilling is the mechanism Haranga is deploying to address this. The company is also folding existing Scoping Study work into the PFS rather than completing a standalone Scoping Study first, an efficiency decision the announcement describes as intended to reduce the overall study timeline for Lincoln.
The current Lincoln Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE), reported as of 25 May 2026, stands at 2.46Mt at 5.1 g/t Au for 402koz Au:
| Area | Classification | Tonnage | Grade (g/t Au) | Ounces Au |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln-Comet | Indicated | 429,000t | 6.6 | 91,000oz |
| Lincoln-Comet | Inferred | 1,068,000t | 5.4 | 184,000oz |
| Lincoln-Comet Total | 1,497,000t | 5.7 | 275,000oz | |
| Medean | Inferred | 961,000t | 4.1 | 127,000oz |
| Medean Total | 961,000t | 4.1 | 127,000oz | |
| Total | 2,459,000t | 5.1 | 402,000oz |
Lincoln Gold Project MRE Summary Table; 2026 Kriged Model, reported at 2.0 g/t cut-off. All resources reported depleted for mining voids.
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CEO outlines the strategic path to sustainable operations at Lincoln
Managing Director and CEO Patrick Mutz framed the programme’s purpose in the announcement:
Patrick Mutz, Managing Director & CEO
“A general requirement for a development project such as the Lincoln gold redevelopment, is to conduct additional drilling to enable, in time, the potential reclassification of Mineral Resources to Ore Reserves. This important work is anticipated to support the assessment of full project economics in a PFS, to be conducted by an independent mining services group, and given the scoping work completed by previous project owners the current Scoping Study work will be folded into a PFS in an effort to reduce the overall study time for Lincoln. The Company is currently assessing its overall redevelopment strategy, with a focus on ensuring a successful restart of sustainable, long-term and profitable operations at Lincoln. We will continue to keep shareholders and stakeholders informed of any key changes to our re-development strategy as they are finalised in the coming weeks.”
Management has flagged that updates on strategy changes are anticipated in coming weeks, giving investors a near-term catalyst window to watch.
Haranga’s project portfolio extends beyond California, with the Ibel South discovery in West Africa adding an 800-metre strike corridor to the company’s gold assets and providing shareholders with exposure to a second high-grade gold opportunity alongside the Lincoln redevelopment effort.
For context on what Lincoln represents as a platform:
- Located in California’s Mother Lode Gold Belt
- Fully permitted for mining
- Significant existing infrastructure in place
This is not a greenfield risk story. The infrastructure and permits are already in place; the work now is building the geological confidence to underpin the economics.
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