Highlights

• Infill and extensional diamond drilling at Pickle Crow is confirming shallow, high-grade gold mineralisation in banded iron formation and quartz vein zones that were previously ignored in historical underground mining.

• New drilling at Zone 3 and Zone 1 returns intercepts including 4.7 metres at 9.7 grams per tonne and 9.6 metres at 4.5 grams per tonne, confirming and in some cases extending historical high-grade intersections.

• The company is targeting a revised Mineral Resource Estimate and pit shell optimisations based on current gold prices, expected mid-2027, with the high-grade underground resource below 260 metres positioned as additional upside.

• Bellavista holds approximately $28 million in cash and two diamond rigs active at Pickle Crow, with continued assay results expected from the ongoing drill programme.

Bellavista Resources Limited (ASX:BVR), an ASX-listed gold exploration company trading under the ticker BVR, delivered an investor presentation at the Noosa Mining Conference in November 2026 outlining the progress of its open pit exploration strategy at the Pickle Crow Gold Project in Ontario, Canada. Pickle Crow is an established gold project within the highly prospective Uchi sub-province of the Superior Craton — a geological domain that shares formation characteristics with the gold-bearing cratons of Western Australia and has historically produced in excess of 1.5 million ounces from the Pickle Crow mine itself, at a grade of approximately 16 grams per tonne. Bellavista's approach is to Leverage the existing high-grade underground resource as a foundation while building an open pit resource in the near-surface portions of the deposit that were either not fully evaluated in the original resource estimate or were priced at a gold price substantially below current levels.

Open Pit Strategy — Why Shallow BIF Gold Matters

The near-surface opportunity at Pickle Crow centres on mineralisation hosted in banded iron formation and other bulk-style geological settings that extend to a depth of approximately 260 metres. Historical underground mining at Pickle Crow was focused on high-grade quartz lode mineralisation at depth, with the BIF-hosted and other lower-grade but potentially wide mineralisation in the upper 260 metres not evaluated at open pit cut-off grades. With a compliant gold resource of approximately one million ounces in the top 260 metres — classified as unconstrained by mining shapes — Bellavista's strategy is to drill infill holes to confirm grade and continuity at open pit cut-off grades, remodel the resource using those parameters, and generate updated pit shell optimisations at current gold prices rather than the US$1,850 per ounce gold price used in the 2023 resource estimate. New drilling in the Zone 3 central area has returned intervals including 4.7 metres at 9.7 grams per tonne gold, confirming and expanding previously reported historical intersections. Zone 1 to the north has similarly returned shallow high-grade intercepts that have the potential to extend existing pit shell outlines when remodelled, with one interval of 27.2 metres at 0.9 grams per tonne and a narrower but very high-grade hit also reported.

Zone-by-Zone Drilling Progress and Key Results

The Pickle Crow project's Investment proposition rests on the combination of near-surface open pit potential and the deeper underground high-grade resource, which begins immediately below the depth at which the open pit optimisation would operate. If an open pit is advanced and developed, it simultaneously provides underground access via drill platforms and the beginnings of a physical infrastructure base that could be used to access the higher-grade resource at depth — a development sequencing logic that is common in gold projects of this type. The company holds approximately $28 million in cash and has two diamond drill rigs active at the project, with ongoing assay results expected as drilling continues. Near-mine and regional exploration targets are planned for follow-up drilling in 2027 and 2028. The company also holds a separate project at Brumby in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, which is being evaluated for base metals and critical minerals, with column leach test work in progress.

Project Scale, Cash Position and Upcoming Milestones

Looking at the broader context, Bellavista's focus on the Uchi sub-province of Ontario positions the company within a geological setting that has attracted sustained interest from gold producers and developers. The Superior Craton's Uchi and Wabigoon sub-provinces collectively host a large inventory of gold resources and historical production, and the ongoing consolidation and development activity in the district provides a constructive backdrop for Bellavista's work at Pickle Crow. The company's well-funded Balance Sheet and active drilling programme, combined with the mid-2027 target for an updated resource estimate and pit shell optimisations, creates a defined newsflow pathway over the next approximately six months. For investors monitoring Bellavista, the confirmation of near-surface high-grade mineralisation through infill drilling — validating both the historical dataset and the open pit thesis — is the most important de-risking step the current programme can deliver ahead of the resource update. For investors evaluating Bellavista Resources in the context of the broader gold development landscape, the company's focus on converting a well-understood historical dataset into a fresh, high-price-assumption resource estimate is a capital-efficient approach that leverages decades of previous exploration investment while applying modern geology and updated economic assumptions. The fact that the existing underground resource begins immediately below the depth at which an open pit would likely operate also means that any future open pit development could be designed to transition directly into an underground mining scenario without the need to explore for a new, deeper resource — an operational continuity advantage that reduces geological risk relative to projects where the near-surface and deep resources are geologically disconnected. The active news flow from two diamond rigs working simultaneously at the project, combined with the well-funded balance sheet, should sustain investor engagement through the period between current drilling and the mid-2027 resource update.

Key Insights

Looking at the broader context, Bellavista's focus on the Uchi sub-province of Ontario positions the company within a geological setting that has attracted sustained interest from gold producers and developers. The Superior Craton's Uchi and Wabigoon sub-provinces collectively host a large inventory of gold resources and historical production, and the ongoing consolidation and development activity in the district provides a constructive backdrop for Bellavista's work at Pickle Crow. The company's well-funded balance sheet and active drilling programme, combined with the mid-2027 target for an updated resource estimate and pit shell optimisations, creates a defined newsflow pathway over the next approximately six months. For investors monitoring Bellavista, the confirmation of near-surface high-grade mineralisation through infill drilling — validating both the historical dataset and the open pit thesis — is the most important de-risking step the current programme can deliver ahead of the resource update. For investors evaluating Bellavista Resources in the context of the broader gold development landscape, the company's focus on converting a well-understood historical dataset into a fresh, high-price-assumption resource estimate is a capital-efficient approach that leverages decades of previous exploration investment while applying modern geology and updated economic assumptions. The fact that the existing underground resource begins immediately below the depth at which an open pit would likely operate also means that any future open pit development could be designed to transition directly into an underground mining scenario without the need to explore for a new, deeper resource — an operational continuity advantage that reduces geological risk relative to projects where the near-surface and deep resources are geologically disconnected. The active news flow from two diamond rigs working simultaneously at the project, combined with the well-funded balance sheet, should sustain investor engagement through the period between current drilling and the mid-2027 resource update.