Sierra Nevada Gold Launches 25,000m Drill Push to Define Saudi Copper-Gold Scale
Key Takeaways
- Sierra Nevada Gold has commenced a 25,000m Phase 2 drilling program at As Safra, scaling to five rigs by mid-November 2026 — the largest exploration campaign the project has seen.
- Phase 1 drilling confirmed high-grade copper mineralisation at the Central Copper Zone, with intercepts including 16m @ 1.49% Cu from 160m and 9m @ 1.83% Cu from 99m, forming the technical basis for Phase 2's resource definition objective.
- A separately discovered polymetallic breccia system returned 11m @ 1.15g/t Au, 108.7g/t Ag, 4.64% Zn and 1.88% Pb from 49m — a distinct mineralisation style that adds a multi-metal dimension to the project.
- The 10,000m discovery component targets previously undrilled magnetic, gravity and IP anomalies across a 5.5km by 0.6km mineralised corridor, only a small proportion of which has been drill tested.
- First Phase 2 assay results are expected in November 2026, with drilling running through to March 2027 — delivering a sequence of potential market catalysts rather than a single binary event.
SNX launches 25,000m Phase 2 drilling campaign at As Safra
Sierra Nevada Gold (ASX: SNX) has announced the commencement of a major 25,000m Phase 2 exploration program at its 100%-owned As Safra Copper-Gold Project in Saudi Arabia, supported by 13.5km of trenching and sampling. Mobilisation is underway, with three rigs expected to be operational by 30 September 2026 and the campaign scaling to five rigs by mid-November.
The pace of execution is notable. Tenure at As Safra was only secured on 1 May 2026, meaning the company will have completed an entire maiden drilling campaign and commenced a substantially larger second-phase program within six months of receiving its exploration licence.
First assay results from Phase 2 are expected in November 2026, with drilling running through to March 2027.
CEO Adam Oehlman
“Phase 2 aims to answer the most important question at As Safra: how large can this mineral system become? Our first drilling program confirmed strong copper mineralisation at Central and identified multiple mineralised systems across the project. Together with the geological and geophysical work, these results have strengthened our conviction in As Safra’s scale…”
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Three-objective program designed to define, expand and discover
The Phase 2 program is structured around three distinct objectives, each targeting a different stage of the resource and discovery pathway.
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DEFINE — 8,000m at the Central Copper Zone, testing the extent and continuity of copper mineralisation and providing the technical foundation required to assess a maiden Mineral Resource.
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EXPAND — 7,000m testing strike and depth extensions of known mineralised zones, including the +3km mineralised copper trend NNE of Central, the As Safra Southeast copper system, and follow-up drilling of the Au-Ag-Cu-Pb-Zn polymetallic breccia system.
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DISCOVER — 10,000m targeting previously undrilled magnetic, gravity and IP anomalies, priority gold prospects and concealed mineralised systems across the broader project area.
To contextualise why the expansion and discovery targets warrant this level of investment, Phase 1 produced several significant intercepts reported in prior announcements. At the Central Copper Zone, drilling returned 16m @ 1.49% Cu from 160m, including 3m @ 3.62% Cu and 2m @ 4.95% Cu (ASDD0009), and 9m @ 1.83% Cu from 99m, including 5m @ 2.69% Cu (ASDD0012). The polymetallic breccia system returned 11m @ 1.15g/t Au, 108.7g/t Ag, 0.21% Cu, 4.64% Zn and 1.88% Pb from 49m (ASRC0012). These results form the basis for Phase 2’s expansion and discovery components.
The polymetallic breccia discovery at As Safra, which returned 11m at 1.15g/t Au, 108.7g/t Ag, 0.21% Cu, 4.64% Zn and 1.88% Pb from 49m, represents a separate mineralisation style from the Central Copper Zone skarn system and adds a multi-metal dimension to the Phase 2 EXPAND objective.
Understanding district-scale copper-gold exploration in Saudi Arabia
To understand what SNX is building toward, it helps to know the difference between a single deposit and a district-scale mineral system.
A single deposit is one mineralised body, typically defined by drilling and reported as a resource in tonnes and grade. A district-scale system is something larger: multiple mineralised centres spread across a substantial area, often sharing a common geological origin. The distinction matters because district-scale systems can host several economically significant deposits within one project boundary.
The As Safra project’s principal mineralised corridor extends approximately 5.5km by 0.6km, with multiple mineralisation styles already identified, including Cu-Au skarn, replacement mineralisation and the newly discovered Au-Ag-Cu-Pb-Zn breccia system. The announcement notes that only a small proportion of this corridor has been drill tested.
A maiden Mineral Resource is a key milestone for any exploration company. Under the JORC Code (the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves), a Mineral Resource is a formally classified estimate of mineralisation with reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. Achieving a maiden resource gives the market a defined, auditable measure of what a project contains, and it typically marks the transition from early-stage exploration to a more advanced project status.
The project sits within the Arabian-Nubian Shield, a geological province that hosts several major mineral deposits across Saudi Arabia. The regional setting, as shown in the company’s announcement, includes significant known copper and gold deposits in the broader region, reinforcing the geological prospectivity of the jurisdiction.
SNX operates in Saudi Arabia through its 100%-owned subsidiary Arabian American Minerals (AAM) and continues to receive support from the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources and the Saudi Geological Survey.
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Milestones and what investors should watch for
The Phase 2 program delivers a sequence of potential news flow catalysts between now and March 2027, rather than a single binary event. Each rig arrival, assay release, and program milestone represents a discrete opportunity for the market to re-assess the project’s scale.
| Milestone | Target Date | Significance | Program Component |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three rigs operational | 30 September 2026 | Program mobilisation confirmed | Define + Expand |
| Third diamond rig arrives | Late October 2026 | Ramp-up to broader discovery drilling | Discover |
| Fourth diamond rig arrives | Mid-November 2026 | Full five-rig campaign operational | All three objectives |
| First assay results | November 2026 | Market catalyst — first data from Phase 2 | Define/Expand |
| Drilling completion | March 2027 | Full program results available | All three objectives |
The convergence of a resource definition pathway at Central Copper, expansion drilling across known mineralised systems, and a 10,000m discovery program across previously untested ground gives investors multiple potential inflection points over the next six months.
SNX’s broader portfolio also provides strategic context. The company controls five Nevada projects alongside As Safra, a structure that supports year-round exploration across Northern Hemisphere jurisdictions and is designed to maximise capital efficiency by alternating field activities between the two regions.
High-grade gold discoveries at the Warrior Project in Nevada form part of the same exploration portfolio, giving SNX active drill targets across two continents and a scheduling structure designed to keep field programs running year-round.
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