McLaren Minerals (ASX:MML) has completed 663 holes for 11,568m at its namesake McLaren Titanium Project in Western Australia as part of stage one Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) drilling.
The company drilled 100% of planned collars using 86% of planned metres, achieving an average daily rate of 160m within budget.
The 2026 program aims to infill historic data and improve confidence for a mineral resource estimate (MRE) update, followed by a maiden ore reserve.
According to McLaren, the campaign compromises resource infill drilling, targeted drilling along strike extension opportunities to the southwest, and additional holes within the previously reported southeastern extension.
It also includes potential Eastern Shoreline target drilling and variography drilling.
Infill resource drilling accounts for 528 holes and was completed at 150m-by-150m grid spacing aligned to 140°N to better represent ‘cross-strike’ orientation.
Two variography study grids were also completed at the northern and southern limits of infill drilling to evaluate mineral continuity across depositional strike.
Meanwhile, step-out drilling totalled 75 holes across southwest and southeastern extensions, encountering up to 24m of mineralised sediment with ‘good’ continuity.
Finally, the potential Eastern Shoreline target was likewise completed, with 20 holes drilled on a 1,000m-by-3,000m grid to support regional geological understanding.
Managing Director Simon Finnis says he is pleased that this stage of the BFS has gone smoothly.
“The infill drilling is necessary to increase confidence in the deposit and will lead to an updated resource and a maiden mining reserve,” Finnis says.
“The Eastern Shoreline program has proven to be invaluable to complete the geological picture, providing insight to the features and deposition controls governing the accumulation of mineralising sediments at McLaren.
“I am particularly happy to see the drilling to the southwest show strong continuity and the emergence of the southeast extension as an additional resource extension target.”
Bulk metallurgical samples were collected during infill drilling for further laboratory testing.
McLaren intends to compile and verify assays, conduct geological reviews, and prepare data for an updated MRE under JORC guidelines.
The company is now focusing on further pre-development activities in line with company forecasts.
McLaren Minerals is an explorer focused on developing its namesake project in WA’s Eucla Basin.
Write to Paula Fabe at Mining.com.au
Images: McLaren Minerals
