Key Highlights

•  Hole 26MYRCD076 at Main Hill returned 50 metres at 1.05 g/t gold from 307 metres, including 23 metres at 1.60 g/t gold.

•  The intercept was well below the current resource pit shell, and downhole and true widths were not stated.

•  More step-out results are pending from Main Hill and Main Hill Extension, together with an updated resource estimate.

Pilbara Gold Ltd (ASX:PGL) has reported the first step-out drilling result from its 2026 programme at the Mt York gold project in Western Australia's Pilbara region, with gold mineralisation intersected well below the current resource pit shell.

Hole 26MYRCD076 at the Main Hill deposit returned 50 metres at 1.05 g/t gold from 307 metres, including 23 metres at 1.60 g/t gold. Downhole and true widths were not stated, so the intercept length should not be read as the true thickness of the mineralised zone.

Depth extensions at Main Hill and Breccia Hill

The company also reported that mineralisation in hole 078 extends more than 100 metres below the resource pit shell, while hole 034A at Breccia Hill extends mineralisation about 200 metres below the resource boundary. Grades and intercept lengths for those two holes were not included.

The new result builds on earlier deep drilling. In July 2026 the company reported 94 metres at 0.88 g/t gold from 275 metres in hole 26MYDD022 at Main Hill, which it described at the time as lying about 100 metres below previous drilling and largely outside the resource model. Hole 26MYDD008 at Gossan Hill returned 21 metres at 1.42 g/t gold from 228 metres in the same release. Together, the holes suggest gold continues at depth beneath the planned open pits, although wider-spaced drilling will be needed to test continuity.

The existing resource

Pilbara Gold, formerly known as Kairos Minerals, first reported the current Mt York Mineral Resource in April 2026. It totals 61.7 million tonnes at 1.05 g/t gold for about 2.08 million ounces at a 0.4 g/t cut-off, constrained within an A$5,500 per ounce pit shell. Of that, 42.1 million tonnes at 1.02 g/t gold for 1.38 million ounces is classified as Indicated and 19.7 million tonnes at 1.11 g/t gold for 703,000 ounces as Inferred.

Inferred material carries lower geological confidence, and the new depth intercepts are not yet part of any resource. The mineralisation is hosted along a 4.2-kilometre banded iron formation trend that remains open at depth, according to the company.

Why depth matters for the study

Pilbara Gold has completed infill drilling for its pre-feasibility study (PFS) and has moved its rigs to step-out holes beneath Main Hill and Main Hill Extension. The stated aim is to find additional ounces that could be added in an updated resource estimate.

If deeper mineralisation proves continuous, it could support larger pit designs or a future underground option, but that depends on grade, metallurgy, strip ratios and gold prices. The latest intercept grades of around 1 g/t are similar to the resource average, and deeper material generally costs more to mine from an open pit.

Timeline and risks

The company is targeting completion of the PFS in the first half of calendar 2027, with a new Mineral Resource estimate and maiden Ore Reserve by June 2027. These are targets rather than achieved milestones. Earlier in 2026 the company flagged long laboratory turnaround times in Perth, which could affect the pace at which results reach the market and feed into the study.

The results reviewed here come from an independent summary of the company's update, and further detail, including full assay tables and drill-hole orientations, would be needed to assess the intercepts properly.

Next steps

Pilbara Gold indicated that more step-out results are pending from Main Hill and Main Hill Extension. Those assays, together with the updated resource estimate, will show whether the depth extensions can add meaningfully to Mt York's ounces ahead of the planned PFS. The company also continues exploration elsewhere in its portfolio, including the Roe Hills project in Western Australia.