Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) has begun a 10,000m reverse circulation drilling campaign at its wholly owned Ned’s Creek Gold Project in Western Australia to deliver a maiden gold resource.
The company will target resource definition, extension, and growth across the Gidgee Flat, Contessa, and Central Park prospects, ahead of a maiden resource estimate due in CY2026.
Exploration work across the Ned’s Creek Project intends to expand known mineralisation, while also unlocking additional scale potential.
Lodestar previously defined an exploration target of 250,000–300,000 ounces of gold within a range of 5–7 million tonnes @ 1.0–1.7 grams per tonne gold across the prospects, as reported by Mining.com.au last December.
CEO Coraline Blaud says this drilling campaign represents a “significant milestone” for the company as it moves Ned’s Creek towards a resource estimate.
“Importantly, this program is not only focused on building confidence in existing mineralisation but also expanding the footprint of the system across multiple priority targets,” Blaud says.
“Previous work has demonstrated the presence of a broad, mineralised gold system and this drilling is designed to test its scale and continuity.
“With multiple prospects being advanced together, we see strong potential for Ned’s Creek to evolve into a material gold asset, and we look forward to delivering results that support this growth trajectory as the program progresses.”
The program starts shortly after existing Executive Director and Head of Exploration Blaud’s appointment to CEO, who has been tasked with leading the company through its next phase of discovery and growth in Australia, Chile, and the US.
Blaud has supported the company through recent exploration momentum, across drilling programs in Chile, ‘strong, early results’ from the Virgin Mountain Project in Arizona, as well as streamlining resource estimation at the Ned’s Creek Gold Project in Western Australia.
Mining.com.au reports the appointment to be implemented at a pivotal time for the company as it runs numerous exploration campaigns.
Lodestar Minerals is a gold and base metal explorer focused on developing its portfolio of assets in Australia, Chile, and the US.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Lodestar Minerals
