Miramar Resources Appoints Drillers to Hunt Bedrock Gold Near Kalgoorlie by October
Key Takeaways
- RC bedrock drilling at the Gidji JV is expected to begin by the end of October 2026, with drill contractors already appointed.
- The maiden Inferred Resource of 1.04Mt @ 1.20g/t Au for 39,764oz sits on spacing of 100m x 50m or wider, leaving clear room for infill and extension at Highway and Marylebone.
- Marylebone's dolerite will be tested over about 400m of strike, backed by tellurium anomalism, SAM conductors, and a basement high with elevated aircore gold.
- Lake lies 1.5km along strike from the roughly 30koz Gidji Dam deposit and remains open down dip and to the north.
- Bulk density testing and initial metallurgical work will run alongside drilling, but results are pending and there is no assurance of additional Resources.
Gidji JV drilling to start by end of October
Miramar Resources has appointed drill contractors for its 80%-owned Gidji JV Gold Project, with reverse circulation (RC) bedrock drilling expected to commence by the end of October 2026. Resource drilling is to follow.
The project sits 15km north of Kalgoorlie and astride the Goldfields Highway. Two programmes are planned:
- RC drill testing of the Marylebone and Lake bedrock targets
- Infill and/or extensional drilling of the Inferred Resources at the Highway and Marylebone deposits
For investors, this is the first drilling since the maiden Resource, which gives the market a near-term source of news flow.
Allan Kelly, Technical Director
“The primary focus at Gidji remains to discover a significant bedrock gold deposit such as those seen elsewhere along the Boorara Shear Zone and Bardoc Tectonic Zone, and we believe that recent insights we have gained from the combined use of lithogeochemistry and geophysical data could be the key…”
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Resource drilling targets upgrade of 39,764oz maiden Inferred Resource
In a past announcement dated 20 August 2026, the company outlined a maiden shallow Inferred Mineral Resource of 1.04Mt @ 1.20g/t Au for 39,764oz. It sits above a 0.2g/t Au cutoff and is constrained within multiple optimised open pit shells.
The two largest Resources are at Highway and Marylebone. Current drill spacing averages 100m x 50m or above, which is relatively broad. That leaves room for infill and extension.
| Deposit | Resource ounces | Planned work |
|---|---|---|
| Highway | 10,309oz | Infill and/or extensional drilling |
| Marylebone | Six Resources totalling approximately 20,600oz | Infill and/or extensional drilling |
Kelly described the drilling used to outline the potentially open-pittable Resources as shallow and still relatively broad-spaced. The aim is to increase both the confidence in, and the size of, those Resources.
Concurrent with the drilling, the company will test the actual bulk density of the basement lithologies and weathering domains. The current Resource uses bulk density values estimated from similar projects. Initial metallurgical test work to determine potential gold recoveries is also anticipated.
Higher confidence and a larger size could strengthen the case for the deposits next to the highway, though results remain pending.
What is a bedrock target and why does it matter?
Shallow gold sits in weathered material near the surface. Bedrock gold sits in the fresh host rock below, and finding it can point to larger deposits at depth.
Explorers also hunt for pathfinder elements, such as tellurium and arsenic, which act as chemical clues to nearby gold. According to Prendergast (2007), within the St Ives gold camp at Kambalda, “Te values above the lower detection limit of 0.1ppm correlate with known gold mineralisation”.
Gidji has been underexplored due to extensive shallow transported cover and the Gidji Paleochannel, which crosscuts the most prospective basement geology. Bedrock success would be a different proposition to the shallow Resource, but it remains an exploration target, not a result.
Marylebone and Lake bedrock targets
Marylebone dolerite
The Marylebone deposits are hosted in mafic and ultramafic rocks within the Boorara Shear Zone. They contain shallow high-grade gold intersections over 1.2km of strike.
Previous RC drilling did not intersect bedrock mineralisation beneath the shallow gold. In hindsight, the shallow gold may have been mechanically and/or chemically transported downstream from the dolerite.
The company points to several lines of supporting evidence:
- A basement high with elevated aircore end-of-hole (EOH) gold results
- Lower MgO dolerite between two higher MgO ultramafic units
- Tellurium anomalism
- 2025 sub-audio magnetic (SAM) conductors and EOH sulphur values that could indicate sulphides
The company plans to initially test the dolerite with RC holes over approximately 400m of strike.
Lake prospect
Lake lies about 1.5km along strike from the ca 30koz Gidji Dam deposit (Ramsgate Resources, 1995). The geology features a folded felsic intrusion within volcaniclastic units, crosscut by a structure.
Wide-spaced RC drilling returned several significant gold results, along with a larger arsenic anomaly. The mineralisation dips southwest and appears to plunge gently north, so it remains open down dip and along strike to the north.
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Next steps for Miramar Resources
RC bedrock drilling is expected to commence by the end of October 2026, with Resource drilling to follow. The announcement did not disclose drilling dates beyond this, budgets or cash figures.
The company believes the Gidji JV Project has potential for a new gold camp with multiple deposits. It holds approximately 15km of Boorara Shear Zone strike and has made multiple large new supergene gold discoveries since commencing exploration in late 2020. Drilling results are pending, and there is no assurance that exploration will define additional Mineral Resources.
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