Critical Resources Limited (ASX:CRR) Cap Burn drilling marks early progress in New Zealand gold strategy

Critical Resources has completed its inaugural reverse circulation drilling program at the Cap Burn Gold Project in New Zealand, closing an initial phase of fieldwork designed to test a well defined geological concept rather than deliver immediate results.

For investors, the update provides insight into how the company is positioning its New Zealand portfolio within a proven gold province, while setting up a sequence of exploration catalysts extending into 2026.

Highlights

• Completion of an inaugural RC drilling program at the Cap Burn Gold Project in the Otago region of New Zealand.

• 11 RC holes for a total of 725 m drilled over approximately 1 km of the Cap Burn Fault structure.

• All holes intersected the interpreted Cap Burn fault, with several recording stockwork quartz veining and sulphide mineralisation within the TZ4 schist unit.

• Samples dispatched to a New Zealand analytical laboratory, with assay results expected in mid February 2026.

• Drilling represents the first stage of a broader, multi stage exploration program across an approximately 10 km prospective fault corridor.

The Cap Burn program was designed as a rapid, low impact campaign, utilising existing tracks and widely spaced drill holes to test the down plunge potential beneath a large arsenic in soil anomaly.

All 11 holes intersected the targeted structure, supporting the geological model underpinning the project, with several holes encountering stockwork veining and sulphide mineralisation within the TZ4 schist unit, the same host rock previously associated with gold mineralisation in the district.

Cap Burn is located on the northern edge of the Otago Schist Belt, a region that hosts OceanaGold’s Macraes operation, reported at more than 10 Moz of gold, as well as Santana Minerals’ Bendigo Ophir Project.

The structural setting is described as analogous to these deposits, with the Cap Burn Fault interpreted as part of the same northwest southeast trending shear corridor that has acted as a conduit for orogenic gold mineralising fluids elsewhere in the belt.

Earlier drilling at Cap Burn in 2021 confirmed gold mineralisation hosted in foliation parallel shear zones within the TZ4 unit, providing the basis for the current program.

Critical Resources has highlighted the relevance of Santana Minerals’ Rise and Shine discovery, where mineralisation was encountered down plunge beneath arsenic anomalies and near TZ4 TZ3 boundaries, reinforcing the importance of structural and lithological controls being tested at Cap Burn.

Attention now turns to assay results, which are expected in mid February 2026 and are intended to guide follow up drilling and broader exploration programs during 2026.

In parallel, permit transfers are underway across a wider suite of New Zealand projects including Tokomairiro, Lammerlaw, Croesus, Silver Peaks and Rock and Pillar, with field mapping and geochemistry programs planned to commence following completion of the transfers to define additional exploration targets.

From a broader industry perspective, the update underscores renewed exploration interest in New Zealand’s Otago region following recent discoveries and the application of modern geological models.

For Critical Resources, the Cap Burn program represents an early but structured step in building exposure to an established gold province, with forthcoming assay results and staged work programs set to shape the direction of exploration activity through 2026.

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