The measured, indicated and inferred resource for the project now stands at 174 million tonnes at 0.51 grams per tonne gold for 2.83 million ounces of gold, reported above a cut-off grade of 0.2g/t gold and within a constraining pit shell at a A$5000/oz gold price. 

Total ounces increased by 26%, while 77% of the resource sits in the high-confidence measured and indicated categories, which will underpin the ongoing definitive feasibility study.

Canaccord Genuity analyst Paul Howard described the update as meaningful.

“This higher-confidence inventory supports project de-risking and provides a strong foundation for mine planning, in our view,” he said.

While the company used a higher gold price for the update, Saturn managing director Ian Bamborough said around two-thirds of the additional ounces were a result of the 367-hole extensional and infill drilling program.

The total resource was achieved with 299,289m of reverse circulation and diamond drilling, effectively returning 9.46oz of gold for every metre drilled.

DFS progressing

In December, Saturn released a prefeasibility study on a A$472.4 million, 10Mt per annum heap leach operation to produce 106,000oz of gold per annum, based on a maiden reserve of 1.59Moz of gold.

Using a base case A$4300/oz gold price, the project would generate more than $2.5 billion in EBITDA over its 14-year mine life.

The net present value (8% discount rate) was forecast at A$973 million, with an internal rate of return of 51% and payback period of 2.3 years.

The updated resource will feed into the DFS and underpin an updated reserve, both of which are due to be released in late 2026.

Bamborough said the open pit could end up being more than 1.1km in width.

“Where these big heap leach deposits really win is their lateral footprint near surface, which allows you to catch a lot of shallow ounces quickly,” he said.

“So, if anything, this resource is helping us plan for the future of the deposit beyond what we’ll put together in the DFS this year.”

Apollo Hill is comparable in size, scale and grade to other large operating heap leach operations in the US.

There are few heap leach operations in Australia but the processing method accounts for around 20% of global gold production.

Canaccord’s Howard said it was re-emerging as a viable development pathway in Australia.

“This is supported by improved technical confidence from decades of global experience, favourable WA conditions, and modern evaluation workflows incorporating detailed mineralogy and column testwork,” he said. 

“Increasingly, heap leach is being selectively applied where geology and jurisdiction align, including projects like Apollo Hill.”

Opportunities to grow

Drilling is continuing at Apollo Hill with mineralisation open in multiple directions.

Last week, Saturn reported new results from the Titan Lode including 16m at 1.46g/t gold from 7m, including 7m at 3.01g/t gold; 9m at 2.01g/t gold from 31m; 5m at 2.25g/t gold from 6m; 10m at 1.01g/t gold from 15m; 3m at 5.27g/t gold from 60m; 1m at 9.6g/t gold from 68m; and 3m at 4.96g/t gold from 126m, all of which are outside the resource.

Saturn also sees significant exploration beyond the 6km long Apollo Hill trend on the surrounding 1000 square kilometre tenement package. 

Last month, the company signed a Native Title agreement, which is critical to future development, but also opens up further search spaces that haven’t been explored.

“There are some clear indications that the mineralised system does still extend and there’s obvious trends which we haven’t fully explored yet,” Bamborough said.

“Part of that agreement gives us a vehicle to be able to get out into these areas and I think that’s also exciting.

“If you look at the footprint of that gold system, which is predominantly aircore drilling, it tells you something serious is going on.”

Bamborough is also excited by the potential at Aquarius, to the southeast of Apollo Hill, which was previously owned by Japanese giant Sumitomo.

Previous Sumitomo drilling returned 3m at 8.51g/t gold from 102m, while limited drilling by Saturn to date has returned a best result of 13m at 1.32g/t gold from 56m, including 4m at 4.31g/t gold.

“The intersections were at least analogous with Apollo Hill and, especially given the early stage of the drilling there, possibly a bit better and that that does excite me,” Bamborough said. 

Saturn’s team has incentive targets around reaching 3Moz of gold in resource.

“I think the guys are highly motivated to push on and try and grab that,” Bamborough said. 

“There’s some real obvious opportunities, so in a nutshell, I don’t think it’ll be long before these guys are pushing on for their next target.”