Highlights

  • Twenty aircore holes east of the McLaren Deposit confirmed additional heavy mineral-bearing marine sediments in the western Eucla Basin.
  • Hole MAC610 returned 21 metres at 3.38 per cent heavy minerals from surface, including 5 metres at 7.07 per cent.
  • Hole MAC764 returned 18 metres at 5.05 per cent heavy minerals, including 5 metres at 8.98 per cent.
  • McLaren will fold the 2026 results into an updated geological model and resource estimate, and investigate a south-westward extension.

Two of the best holes sit about six kilometres apart, and the holes between them found heavy minerals too. McLaren Minerals Limited (ASX:MML) reported on 28 October 2026 results from 20 aircore holes drilled in an area it calls the Eastern Shoreline, east of the McLaren Deposit in the western Eucla Basin of Western Australia. The drilling confirmed additional heavy mineral (HM) bearing marine sediments and supports the company's interpretation of a further depositional environment, separate from the known deposit.

What the drilling found

The program comprised holes MAC601 to MAC615 and MAC761 to MAC765. In total the holes produced 156 one-metre samples with a length-weighted mean of 2.68 per cent HM, with no HM cut-off applied. Samples averaged 7.8 metres per hole, and six holes returned continuous sampled profiles of at least 10 metres from surface.

MAC610 returned 21 metres at 3.38 per cent HM from surface, including 5 metres at 7.07 per cent HM from 16 metres, with a peak one-metre grade of 13.26 per cent HM. MAC764 returned 18 metres at 5.05 per cent HM, including 5 metres at 8.98 per cent HM from 10 metres, with a peak one-metre grade of 13.14 per cent HM.

Managing Director Simon Finnis called it a good outcome for an exploration program and said there is scope to explore further, while adding that there is no real need to chase more tonnes given the scale of the existing McLaren project.

Geological interpretation

McLaren said the results advanced its understanding of the basement architecture beneath the area, which appears to influence how marine sediments are distributed. It described an elongated northeast to southwest sedimentary corridor tied to basement morphology. The company suggested that basement relief, the shape of the paleo shoreline and sea-level changes may have created local energy conditions that favoured the sorting and concentration of heavy minerals.

A possible south-westward extension lies beyond current drilling and remains untested. The relationship between the interpreted shoreline and the existing deposit is unresolved, and continuity between individual mineralised intervals has not been established.

Caveats on the results

This is an exploration result, not a Mineral Resource estimate. Reported lengths are downhole intervals, and true thicknesses have not been confirmed. The 2.68 per cent figure is an average across the sampled population and not the grade of a continuous horizon. The valuable heavy mineral assemblage, which determines the commercial worth of the HM content, still needs to be assessed.

Sampling and tenure

McLeod Drilling Services drilled vertical aircore holes with a 25 per cent cone splitter, sampling at one-metre intervals. Heavy mineral content was estimated by wet panning at the rig and then determined at Western Geolabs using a heavy liquid sink method, with no identified failures in sample treatment. The work was on exploration licences E69/2388 and E69/2386, 100 per cent owned by McLaren. The competent person is Mr Adam Grogan.

Next steps

McLaren will incorporate the 2026 results into an updated geological model and Mineral Resource estimate, investigate the possible south-westward extension, and complete metallurgical test work and technical studies to support future Ore Reserve and Bankable Feasibility Study work. The McLaren Titanium Project hosts a 529 million tonne Mineral Resource, and the company also holds the zircon-rich Barossa Project in South Australia.