Critical Resources (ASX: CRR) Cap Burn drilling confirms system as follow-up shifts to depth
March 27, 2026Critical Resources Managing Director Tim Wither spoke with MarketOpen to further clarify the company’s first-pass RC drilling results at the Cap Burn Gold Project in Otago, New Zealand, which confirm a structurally controlled gold system associated with the Cap Burn Fault.
The program defined a coherent mineralised footprint hosted within the TZ4 schist unit and aligned with a >1 km² arsenic-in-soil anomaly, while drilling was limited to shallow depths of ~60 m due to groundwater constraints. Several holes end in mineralisation, the focus now shifts to refining deeper drill targeting ahead of the next phase.
What supports the case for higher-grade mineralisation at depth rather than a broad, low-grade system?
The TZ4 confirmation is the key piece here — and it’s a significant confidence tick for our model. Mineralisation at Cap Burn is hosted within the TZ4 schist unit, not the TZ3. That distinction matters.
At Macraes, the high-grade mineralisation is TZ3-hosted. At Rise and Shine, early drilling intersected disseminated gold in TZ4 — exactly what we’ve seen at Cap Burn — before higher-grade mineralisation was found by stepping down-plunge along the controlling fault structure. We believe we’re at an analogous structural position to Rise and Shine at a comparable stage of exploration.
Layered on top of that, our strongest intersection — 1 m @ 1.29 g/t Au in CBRC017 — coincides with a highly elevated arsenic anomaly exceeding 1,600 ppm As. The gold–arsenic association is spatially coherent across the entire drilled area, defining a footprint exceeding 1 km². That’s not a diffuse anomaly — it’s a well-structured orogenic hydrothermal system.
The constraint in this program was depth, not the system. Several holes were terminated in mineralisation due to rig capacity and groundwater inflow. We’ve tested only the shallow expression. The down-plunge target beneath the Cap Burn Fault remains entirely untested, and that’s where the model says higher-grade structural focusing occurs.
How does the ~60 m depth limit and holes ending in mineralisation affect confidence in continuity?
The constraint in this program was depth, not the system. Several holes were terminated in mineralisation due to rig capacity and groundwater inflow. We’ve tested only the shallow expression. The down-plunge target beneath the Cap Burn Fault remains entirely untested, and that’s where the model says higher-grade structural focusing occurs.
The ~60 m depth limit is a constraint on this program, not on the system. Several holes were terminated in mineralisation — that tells you the system is open at depth, not closed. We’ve confirmed mineralisation exists. The question is how grade distributes at depth, and that’s the untested part.
What this program does confirm is continuity at shallow levels. We have a coherent mineralised footprint with a consistent gold–arsenic association hosted within a broad structural corridor — not confined to a single discrete structure. The western section across CBRC024 and CBN011/CBN012 reinforces that, showing vertical thickness and continuity through a wide package with no clear structural discontinuities that would limit the system.
Broad, distributed gold in TZ4 with strong arsenic vectoring and no structural barriers to continuity — that’s a system worth following at depth.
What proportion of the ~10 km corridor has been tested, and how will capital be prioritised across it?
We’ve tested a 1km strike of the ~10 km Cap Burn Fault corridor. Drilling was focused on the initial target area where we’ve now confirmed mineralisation — the broader fault system remains largely untested. That’s a significant amount of ground still to work through.
The next phase is a focused program of follow-up drilling and technical work planned to commence in Q2 2026. We’re leading with step-out drilling along strike and at depth around CBRC017 and CBRC021, where we had our best intersections and where several holes were stopped in mineralisation.
Alongside that, we’ll run a systematic along-strike soil geochemistry program to extend and refine the arsenic anomaly and identify additional drill targets, with the Rock and Pillar Prospecting Permit now granted we can start working on the entire cap burn fault.
What specific outcomes from the next program would materially reduce geological risk and validate the model?
Two things. First, meaningful drill intersections along strike and at depth around CBRC017 and CBRC021. Those are the holes that returned our best results — 7 m @ 0.37 g/t Au including 1 m @ 1.29 g/t Au, and 16 m @ 0.22 g/t Au — and both were stopped in mineralisation. Testing those down-plunge extensions is the primary risk reducer. If we see improving grades down plunge, that validates the Rise and Shine analogy and materially de-risks the model.
Second, a tighter targeting framework. The first pass drill results has given us a strong corridor to focus the next round of drilling. Combined with structural mapping and integration of all datasets, that moves us from a confirmed system to a well-understood one — and puts us in a stronger position for each subsequent drill phase.
The TZ4 confirmation already validates the geological model. The next phase is about understanding how grade behaves at depth and identifying where higher-grade structural focusing is most likely to occur.
Execution now shifts to follow-up drilling and targeting refinement
Cap Burn has delivered what a first-pass program should for Critical Resources— a confirmed orogenic gold system, mineralisation in the right lithological package, a coherent >1 km² geochemical footprint, and a clear follow-up path.
Critically, TZ4-hosted gold with strong arsenic vectoring is exactly the pattern at Rise and Shine before discovery. The down-plunge target beneath the Cap Burn Fault remains entirely untested. The next phase, planned to commence in Q2 2026, will test that target through step-out drilling around CBRC017 and CBRC021, supported by along-strike soil geochemistry, structural mapping, and integrated targeting across the broader 10 km corridor.
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