Rua Gold (TSX:RUA) CEO Robert Eckford says recent drill results support the company’s decision to undertake a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) at the end of 2026 for the Auld Creek Gold-Antimony Project in New Zealand.
Auld Creek remains on track with mine planning, environmental and social studies to support submitting a fast-track referral application at the end of March 2026.
The latest results provide ‘strong’ evidence for expansion of the gold-antimony resource, with hole ACDDH064 intercepting mineralisation 400m north of the resource envelope. The hole confirms surface extension beyond 1,060m.
Meanwhile, hole ACDDH065 intercepted mineralisation 550m downhole, demonstrating continuity to 540m below surface.
Assays are pending for both holes. The resource remains open along strike to the north and at depth, with mineralisation occurring in plunging shoots.
“The decision to prioritise the Auld Creek Gold-Antimony Project for a major development drilling program is already delivering encouraging results, with both resource step-out drilling and scout drilling of outlying targets demonstrating consistent geological and structural continuity,” Eckford says.
All drillholes in the recent campaign have intersected the fraternal structure, supporting its description as a continuous and district size feature. Further infill and extensional drilling is planned, along with geological modelling and geochemical fingerprinting of the lodes and host greywacke/argillites to provide improved geological and structural understanding of the deposit.
A fifth rig will begin in April 2026 as the roaming rig, focusing on other highly prospective gold targets across the Reefton Goldfield that will form part of the longer term vision of demonstrating the potential for multiple underground mines feeding the central mill at Auld Creek.
Rua Gold controls the Reefton Goldfield district in the South Island of New Zealand, as the dominant landholder. The company holds obver 120,000 hectares of tenements in a district that historically produced over 2 million ounces of gold grading between 9 grams per tonne and 50g/t.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Rua Gold
