Ballymore Resources (ASX:BMR) announced that it is on track for drilling at the southern extensions of the Duffer Lode fault at its Dittmer Gold Project in North Queensland in Q2 2026, following significant progress on portal access expansion work.
The expansion work will allow for safe, efficient, and low-cost drilling at the site, in addition to the trial mining of ‘high-grade’ historic backfill and remnant pillars at the project.
The company is planning approximately 3,000m of drilling in the next phase of resource delineation. This work will underpin a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) at Dittmer, a significant milestone for Ballymore.
Previous fieldwork along a 4km mineralised corridor returned rock chip assays up to 807.7 grams per tonne gold and stream sediment results up to 39g/t gold.
Ballymore is also conducting trial mining within the granted Mining Lease (ML 10341). Underground sampling returned 4g/t to 81.7g/t gold for historic backfill results, while channel sampling of remnant pillars reported up to 0.4m @ 207g/t gold, 2.97% copper, and 76g/t silver.
Director of Operations Andrew Gilbert says that the company’s phased and risk-managed approach provides them with a clear pathway to potential production.
“Ballymore was the first to drill the project and there is significant potential to extend high-grade mineralisation at depth and along strike,” Gilbert says.
“Expanding the historic portal to a more modern size will make Stage 6 drilling more efficient, and open safe and reliable access to a significant quantity of backfill and remnant material on Dittmer’s granted mining lease.”
Ballymore is well positioned for its 2026 works at Dittmer and its other exploration projects. The company is expecting assay results for Seventy Mile Mount and Mount Quandong within the month and will resume drilling at the Ruddygore Project in March 2026.
Ballymore is planning for the maiden MRE at Dittmer, pending the completion of stage 6 drilling, in Q3 2026.
Ballymore holds a portfolio of exploration and development projects across Queensland across both gold and base metals.
Write to Amy Rotman at Mining.com.au
Images: Ballymore Resources
