Highlights

  • Barton Gold commences ~900m water bore drilling at Tunkillia to identify potential new water sources.
  • Phase 2 ~28,000m RC and ~3,000m DD drilling scheduled to support JORC Ore Reserves and PFS.
  • Company targets Mining Lease application by end of 2026 following Resource upgrades and feasibility work.

Barton Gold Holdings Limited (ASX:BGD) has started water bore drilling at its South Australian Tunkillia Gold Project. The drilling program, managed by Underdale Drillers, will cover approximately 900m and is designed to locate additional sources of water in proximity to existing open pits. Success in identifying new water resources is expected to help de-risk the project and may improve overall economic projections.

Phase 2 Resource Upgrade Drilling
The company has confirmed that the second phase of Tunkillia’s Mineral Resource upgrade drilling will begin in March 2026. This program includes roughly 28,000m of reverse circulation (RC) drilling targeting the conversion of open pit mineralisation into the JORC (2012) ‘Indicated’ category.

In parallel, approximately 3,000m of diamond drilling (DD) will collect geotechnical and metallurgical data to support open pit design optimization, detailed recovery and production modelling, and the preparation of a pre-feasibility study (PFS). These programs are designed to underpin the company’s planned submission of a Mining Lease (ML) application by the end of 2026.

Project Economics from OSS
The May 2025 Optimised Scoping Study (OSS) outlined Tunkillia’s potential economic profile. Annual production was projected at approximately 120,000oz gold and 250,000oz silver. Total Life of Mine operating cash was estimated at AUD 2.7bn (unlevered, pre-tax), with a Net Present Value (NPV7.5%) of AUD 1.4bn and an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 73.2% (unlevered, pre-tax).

The payback period for development costs was projected at 0.8 years. Barton noted that current AUD gold and silver prices exceed OSS revenue assumptions by AUD 1,500/oz and AUD 50/oz, respectively.

Phase 1 Drilling Results
Phase 1 RC drilling at Tunkillia delivered notable intercepts, which support further Resource conversion. Significant results included 23m @ 2.25 g/t Au from 62m in hole TKB0257, 27m @ 2.68 g/t Au from 60m and 44m @ 3.68 g/t Au from 103m in hole TKB0282, and 10m @ 7.37 g/t Au from 65m, including 1m @ 28.8 g/t Au in hole TKB0301. These intercepts are intended to help refine the JORC Resource and support the pre-feasibility study and ML application.

Stock Performance
On 3 February 2026, BGD closed at AUD 1.11, down 1.77%.