Lunnon Metals (ASX:LM8) confirms high grade continuity and expands growth options at Lady Herial
December 11, 2025 Off By MarketOpenLunnon Metals has released a new suite of drilling results that materially strengthens the development case at the Lady Herial gold deposit, confirming both geological continuity within the planned open pit and meaningful mineralisation extensions beyond the June 2025 mine design.
As regulatory approvals advance and the Feasibility Study progresses, investors have sought deeper insight into how these results align with the company’s development strategy and broader ambitions within the Kambalda and St Ives district.
Edmund Ainscough, Managing Director, provides the details on the technical, economic and strategic implications arising from the latest program.
How do the new drill results enhance confidence in the Lady Herial Mineral Resource and the planned open pit?
The latest drilling has improved the density of sampling across the Upper, Middle and Lower Structures, closing the spacing of select areas into the 8m by 6m pattern that the vast majority of the Mineral Resource is already drilled to.
The results consistently validate both the gold grade and distribution expected from previous modelling.
Intercepts such as 13m at 4.78g/t Au from LDH25RC_378, 17m at 4.74g/t Au from LDH25RC_411 and 10m at 4.91g/t Au from LDH25RC_451 fall directly within the planned pit boundary, reinforcing confidence in the high grade zones that underpin the development footprint.
The continuity demonstrated in these results provides confidence that the Mineral Resource Estimate remains robust as we move closer to mining.
These results remain consistent with the Mineral Resource Estimate updated on 18 November 2025 suggesting that no material change is expected before mining commences.
The Mineral Resource estimate will be updated in due course and then serve as the operational grade control model once mining is underway.
What is the significance of the mineralisation discovered in the ‘shadow’ of the future open pit walls?
The purpose of drilling beneath the proposed pit was to ensure that any potential mineralisation was defined before the open pit restricted drill access, and the results have confirmed meaningful extensions along both the Upper Structure and the Northwest Prospect.
Intercepts including 13m at 3.28g/t Au from LDH25RC_388, 10m at 1.74g/t Au from LDH25RC_391 and 12m at 0.97g/t Au from LDH25RC_393 demonstrate that mineralisation continues down plunge to the northwest within favourable host units such as Zone 4 of the Defiance Dolerite.
The intercepts recorded on the Upper Structure and the Northwest Prospect confirm that mineralisation continues down plunge to the northwest within favourable host rocks.
Because these zones lie outside the June 2025 mine design, they represent additional growth optionality that may support a second stage of open pit mining or a modest underground development once the initial pit has been completed.
The timing of this drilling is significant because it ensures that these potential future opportunities can be evaluated in parallel to the current open pit starting.
How do the updated economic sensitivities from the June 2025 Scoping Study inform the potential value of the project?
The updated sensitivities demonstrate how Lady Herial responds commercially across different metal price scenarios while remaining anchored to the same assumptions that underpinned the June 2025 Scoping Study.
At $5,000/oz, the study delivered an approximate pre-tax cash flow outcome of $31.3 million, rising to approximately $39.1 million at $5,750/oz. At a price approaching $6,250/oz, the forecast increases further to approximately $44 million.
The updated gold price sensitivities allow the original Scoping Study economics to be assessed in a range of price environments and demonstrate how value scales under the Ore Purchase Agreement.
The company has reaffirmed that all material assumptions underpinning the production target and financial forecasts remain unchanged, meaning these sensitivities provide a consistent and reliable frame of reference as the Feasibility Study continues with updated Mineral Resource data, tendered mining costs and agreed haulage and processing rates under the Ore Purchase Agreement.
What are the remaining steps in the regulatory and development pathway before mining can commence?
The company has submitted all major regulatory documents, including the Mining Proposal, the Mine Closure Plan and the Native Vegetation Clearing Permit, to the Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration.
Once approvals are granted, mining contracts can be executed, which will enable the Board to make a Final Investment Decision.
With that in place, clearing and open pit mining can commence.
As such, the approvals process is now the final external hurdle before Lady Herial advances into the pre-development and then operational phase.
How does the Ore Purchase Agreement position the company strategically for development and future exploration?
The Ore Purchase Agreement provides a secure and clearly defined processing route for material from a future Lady Herial open pit through the St Ives plant, using agreed haulage and processing rates that deliver to a predictable financial framework.
The structure also generates a significant cash flow benefit, which strengthens the company’s capacity to pursue exploration across the Foster Baker Area, where multiple targets exist within the +16Moz St Ives gold camp.
The Ore Purchase Agreement provides a clear, dependable pathway for processing material at the nearby St Ives facility and generates a significant cash flow injection that can be directed into further exploration.
By providing both operational certainty and financial flexibility, the agreement supports near term production while helping underpin the company’s longer term objective of expanding its discovery pipeline within one of Australia’s most productive gold districts.
Positioning Lady Herial for development, optionality and long term value creation
The insights from Edmund Ainscough, Managing Director, demonstrate how the integration of new high grade drill results, the confirmed robustness of the Mineral Resource estimate, the strengthened economic sensitivities and the advancement of key approvals collectively reinforce Lunnon Metals readiness to progress toward mining at Lady Herial.
Lady Herial may be a modest sized gold deposit, but these outcomes highlight not only its quality within the current known open pit limits but also the strategic optionality emerging from the Upper Structure and the Northwest Prospect beneath the pit outline.
As the Feasibility Study approaches completion and regulatory approvals move toward their conclusion, Lunnon Metals is positioned to transition from development preparation to value delivery, while simultaneously expanding its exploration footprint in the heart of one of Australia’s most prolific gold camps.
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