QMines (ASX:QML) Limited , a Queensland-focused copper and gold company, reported new drilling results from its Mt Chalmers project on 29 October 2026. The announcement covers 25 holes totalling 1,751m. The company described the best result, from a hole drilled off a barge on the flooded historical pit, as its strongest pontoon intersection to date, with mineralisation starting immediately beneath the old pit floor.

The key intersections

Hole 26MCDD053 returned 30.47m at 1.24 per cent copper, 0.87 grams per tonne gold, 12.2 grams per tonne silver and 1.11 per cent zinc from 42.53m. Within that interval sits 9.47m at 2.36 per cent copper and 2.14 grams per tonne gold. These are downhole lengths, and the company said true widths are not yet known.

Hole 26MCRD004 intersected 8.6m at 1.11 per cent copper from 133.0m to the end of the hole at 141.6m, including 1.0m at 6.02 per cent copper. The hole was abandoned when the rods stuck while still in mineralisation, so its full extent has not been tested. Hole 26MCDD018 returned 15.0m at 0.49 per cent copper from 98.0m, including 3.0m at 1.25 per cent copper, and hole 26MCDD009 returned 4.0m at 5.03 per cent zinc and 3.28 per cent lead from 74.0m, including a 1.0m massive sulphide interval at 13.1 per cent zinc and 8.11 per cent lead.

Stockpile drilling

The company also drilled the historical stockpiles. Hole 26MCRC033 in the north-western stockpiles returned 8.0m at 0.33 per cent copper, 0.31 grams per tonne gold, 8.1 grams per tonne silver and 0.90 per cent zinc from 12.0m, and hole 26MCRC022 returned 13.0m at 0.88 grams per tonne gold from 4.0m within historical fill. QMines was careful to say that these results come from widely spaced vertical reverse circulation holes drilled through loose fill with variable sample return, and that they do not establish stockpile volume, grade or recoverability. Two bedrock results beneath the stockpiles may be affected by contamination from overlying material, and the company said this needs confirmation.

Quality-control caveats

The announcement flags several limitations. Six gold certified reference material results fell outside three standard deviations, and re-assays and a final quality-assurance review are pending. Possible low-level copper carryover was noted in blank samples for hole 26MCDD053, which the company does not consider material. Assays remain outstanding for eight completed holes, including several pontoon holes. The existing Mt Chalmers Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve do not yet incorporate any of the new results.

Existing project metrics

For context, the announcement restates the Mt Chalmers Ore Reserve of 9.6 million tonnes at 0.65 per cent copper, 0.48 grams per tonne gold, 0.27 per cent zinc and 5.2 grams per tonne silver. Combined Mineral Resources across Mt Chalmers, Develin Creek and Mt Mackenzie are given as approximately 22 million tonnes. The company has 771,991,470 ordinary shares and 36,500,000 unlisted options on issue.

Next steps

QMines said it will assess holes 26MCDD053 and 26MCRD004 against the existing Mineral Resource model and plan follow-up drilling. It will incorporate the outstanding 2026 assays and complete an updated Mineral Resource estimate, survey stockpile volumes, complete bulk-density measurements, and carry out metallurgical and acid-base accounting testwork. The pontoon and regional drilling programs continue, and the results will feed into the project's Definitive Feasibility Study.

Drilling and assay results of this kind are not resources or reserves, and they do not on their own demonstrate that the mineralisation can be mined economically. In practical terms, the results show that copper and gold mineralisation continues close to the surface at the pit floor and that at least one hole ended while still in mineralisation, which the company will want to test further. Until the pending assays, quality-control re-assays and resource update are complete, the significance of the intersections for the project's size and mine plan remains to be established.