Miramar Resources (ASX:M2R) sets Q1 2026 drilling agenda across Gidji gold and Chain Pool base metals

Miramar Resources has outlined an active start to 2026, with drilling programs scheduled across its 80% owned Gidji JV Gold Project near Kalgoorlie and the Joy Helen copper lead silver prospect within the Chain Pool Project in the Gascoyne, targeting gold, copper, lead and silver across multiple high priority systems.

Highlights

• RC drilling of the Blackfriars and Highway gold targets at Gidji scheduled for Jan Feb 2026

• 10 to 12 RC holes planned for approximately 2500 to 3000m

• Targets defined beneath the Gidji Paleochannel with aircore anomalies over 1km in strike

• Blackfriars located in the same geological setting as the ~4Moz Paddington deposit 15km to the northwest

• Auger drilling planned at the Joy Helen Cu Pb Ag prospect at Chain Pool following high grade rock chip results

• Rock chips at Joy Helen returned up to 73.48g/t Ag, 7.23% Cu and 54.5% Pb over a strike of approximately 400m

The Gidji JV Project is located approximately 15km north of Kalgoorlie Boulder within the Eastern Goldfields Province and covers around 15km of strike along the Boorara Shear Zone, a structure that hosts multiple gold deposits along strike.

Since commencing exploration in late 2020, Miramar has focused on systematic aircore drilling beneath transported cover and the Gidji Paleochannel, outlining a series of supergene gold anomalies and defining bedrock targets for deeper drilling.

At Blackfriars, a 1.3km long aircore anomaly is developed along the contact between the Black Flag Beds and mafic rocks of the Boorara Shear Zone.

Aircore drilling has returned multiple results above 1g/t Au, including 1m at 11.79g/t Au and 6g/t Ag in hole GJAC627, associated with fresh sulphides and quartz carbonate veining.

A single RC hole drilled in 2024 intersected sulphidised quartz dolerite similar to host rocks at the nearby Paddington deposit, although the hole was abandoned in the paleochannel before reaching target depth due to running sands.

The Highway prospect hosts a 1.1km long aircore anomaly with multiple results above 1g/t Au, including 4m at 2.95g/t Au, and is coincident with a gravity low and a conductor interpreted from a sub audio magnetic survey, suggesting an intrusion within the Black Flag Beds.

The planned RC program, for which approvals are in place and a rig has been secured, will represent the first systematic test of both targets at depth.

Miramar is also advancing plans for auger drilling at the Joy Helen prospect within the Chain Pool Project, where rock chip sampling has outlined ore grade copper, lead and silver mineralisation across several outcrops.

Individual samples have returned grades including 40.34g/t Ag with 3.34% Cu and 54.5% Pb, and 73.48g/t Ag with 5.48% Cu and 42.0% Pb.

Subsequent soil geochemistry has defined alteration halos consistent with sedimentary exhalative style mineralisation, with folding interpreted to have repeated the stratigraphy and associated mineralised horizons.

Executive Chairman Allan Kelly said the forthcoming programs would mark a return to systematic drilling across the company’s key targets, noting,

“Our upcoming drilling campaign at Gidji will target the high priority Blackfriars and Highway gold prospects under the Gidji Paleochannel, which have not yet been tested with deeper drilling.”

The Chain Pool auger program will be the first drilling at Joy Helen since shallow work completed in 1964 and is scheduled to commence following completion of the Gidji RC campaign later in the first quarter.

In a broader industry context, Miramar’s focus on testing structurally controlled gold systems in the Eastern Goldfields and high grade base metal mineralisation in the Gascoyne reflects continued exploration attention on underexplored terrains masked by transported cover and on sediment hosted systems capable of delivering high grade polymetallic results.

The upcoming drilling programs will provide the first modern tests of several of these targets at depth and will be closely watched for indications of bedrock continuity beneath the extensive paleochannel and cover sequences.

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