Aurelia Metals has found a gold-rich zone in ground once considered barren at its Peak South Mine and extended two copper lenses, supporting a shift towards copper-gold ore.
Drilling in a sparsely drilled zone between the Peak and Kairos lenses, which Aurelia previously said was considered barren, intersected 10m (8.5m estimated true width) at 1.3 per cent copper (Cu) and 113.3 grams a tonne (g/t) gold (Au) from 58m in UD26PK0224, including 1m at 1.1 per cent Cu and 1120 g/t Au from 63m. Another hole, UD26PK0223, returned 1m at 0.2 per cent Cu and 74.4 g/t Au from 73.4m.
Aurelia said the very high gold grades came from individual nuggets and may be isolated occurrences.
At the Kairos Eastern Copper lens, drilling extended mineralisation about 100m north and 80m down-dip. UD26PP2083 returned 23.5m (21.8m estimated true width) at 1.3 per cent Cu, 0.1 g/t Au and 7 g/t silver from 129.5m, including 4m at 2.8 per cent Cu. The lens remains narrow and is open along strike and at depth.
At Perseverance Zone A, four holes extended mineralisation 30m along strike and up-dip, close to existing underground development. UD25PE0538 returned 11m (6.4m estimated true width) at 1.4 per cent Cu with 1.6 per cent zinc, 2.0 per cent lead and 13 g/t silver from 39.3m, including 2.8m at 3.9 per cent Cu.
“The copper and gold mineralisation identified is supportive of the transition of the Peak Mine from gold-zinc-lead dominant ores to copper-gold dominant ores in the near-term,” Aurelia Metals chief development and technical officer Andrew Graham said.
That transition is already underway at Great Cobar, a consented copper-gold project at Peak, where development began in the 2026 financial year (FY26), with first production expected in FY28. Aurelia is also expanding the Peak processing plant from 800,000 tonnes per year to 1.1–1.2 million tonnes per year, with the Kairos deposit set to support the plant.
“The high-grade Kairos deposit has been a mainstay of the Peak operation since its discovery, and these results suggest that it will remain a key contributor to the Peak processing plant feed mix into the future,” Graham said.