Highlights

• The expanded high-resolution LiDAR and orthoimagery survey at the Mareeba Gold Project is complete, with the processed dataset delivered covering approximately 403 km² of the company's granted tenure.

• The survey covers approximately 41 km of the Kingsborough Fault corridor — more than ten times the coverage of the original March 2026 survey area — and the original area was reflown at more than twice its initial point density.

• The new dataset is being integrated with the company's historic drilling, geochemical, and geological databases to identify additional targets for field work and drill planning.

• Permitting for the maiden drilling program is advancing, with the expanded LiDAR dataset informing drill targeting beyond the initial program targets.

Clara Resources Australia Limited (ASX:C7A), an ASX-listed gold explorer advancing the Mareeba Gold Project in the Hodgkinson Basin of Far North Queensland, has advised that its expanded high-resolution airborne LiDAR and orthoimagery survey is complete and the processed dataset has been delivered. The survey extends the company's high-resolution terrain coverage dramatically across the project's Kingsborough Fault corridor, providing a foundational tool for systematic target generation across the company's growing tenure package.

Survey Scope and Technical Specifications

The expanded survey was flown between 9 and 13 August 2026 at a flying height of 1,000 metres across 75 flight runs with 60% side overlap. The specified point density of 20 points per square metre was achieved across 99.8% of the survey area, representing more than double the density of approximately 8 points per square metre achieved in the original March 2026 survey. Over the same period, orthoimagery was captured at a 10 centimetre ground sample distance, providing detailed visual coverage of the terrain.

The deliverables include a ground-classified LiDAR point cloud, a 1 metre digital terrain model, a 1 metre digital surface model, 0.5 metre contours, and 10 centimetre orthophotography in 1 kilometre tiles. All data is referenced to GDA94, Map Grid of Australia Zone 55, with elevations to the Australian Height Datum. The original March 2026 survey area was reflown at the higher density to ensure data consistency, with the new dataset superseding the earlier coverage — the company now holds a single, consistent terrain model along the entire Kingsborough Fault corridor.

Integration with Project Databases and Historical Records

The new terrain model has been loaded into the company's Hodgkinson database, which holds the project's historical workings together with drilling and geochemical records. With tree cover removed by LiDAR processing, the bare earth model reveals the shafts and costeans of the historic goldfield and the structures associated with them — features that would be indistinguishable in conventional aerial or satellite imagery given the dense vegetation cover across the project area.

In the original 39 km² survey area, this approach identified seven targets — four at documented historical workings and three on previously unrecorded ground. The maiden field program that followed returned gold at every prospect sampled, with values reaching up to 27.3 g/t gold at the best result. That initial field program covered less than one tenth of the ground the company now holds under high-resolution terrain data, meaning the systematic target generation process is now beginning across a significantly larger dataset.

Next Steps: Target Generation and Maiden Drilling

The company has commenced a systematic review of the expanded terrain model and orthoimagery, looking from the northwest of the Kingsborough Fault corridor to the southeast for surface features consistent with historical workings and structural controls. This process will be integrated with the company's historic soil and stream sediment geochemistry and mines record to rank new targets for field inspection and sampling.

Permitting for the maiden drilling program is also advancing in parallel, with the expanded LiDAR dataset informing drill targeting beyond the initial program targets that were identified from the March 2026 survey area. Executive Director Duncan Gordon noted that the March survey changed the way the company looked at the goldfield, turning tree-covered ridges into a map of workings that could be walked straight to, and expressed confidence that the same level of detail across more than 400 square kilometres of ground opens a substantial new chapter of target generation at Mareeba.

Key Insights

The Mareeba Gold Project's LiDAR-first approach has demonstrated a meaningful proof of concept: systematic terrain analysis in a historically worked but underexplored goldfield with dense vegetation cover can identify targets that are verifiable against historical records and field-confirmable. The fact that gold was found at every prospect sampled in the maiden field program adds credibility to the target generation methodology.

The expansion from 39 km² to 403 km² of high-resolution terrain coverage represents a significant increase in the dataset available for target generation. Observers may monitor the pace of target identification and ranking as the company works through the new dataset, as well as developments in the permitting process for the maiden drilling program.