The company’s Golden Range and Fields Find projects in WA’s Murchison region span 788sqkm and extend for over 70km of strike from north to south, covering much of the central Yalgoo-Singleton and Warriedar Archean greenstone belts.

The projects have a resource of 22.9 million tonnes at 1.8 grams per tonne for 1.29 million ounces of contained gold, including 565,000oz at 1.7g/t gold in the measured and indicated categories.

In November, Warriedar doubled the resource for the largest deposit at Golden Range, Ricciardo, to 16.44Mt at 1.8g/t gold for 947,500oz of gold, comprising 467,500oz at 1.6g/t in open pit resources and 480,000oz at 2g/t in underground resources.

“We would like that to be the track record that we set and stay on in terms of growth at this project,” Warriedar managing director Amanda Buckingham said on a webinar yesterday.

The resources were added at an all-discovery cost of A$16 an ounce.

The deposit remains “wide open” at depth.

Antimony boost

In August last year, Warriedar reported high-grade antimony results from Ricciardo of 12.7m at 4.98% antimony and 0.36g/t gold from 229.2m, including 1.85m at 28.5% antimony and 0.45g/t gold.

Buckingham admitted she was initially sceptical about the antimony.

“The right mindset for exploration is to try to kill it and move on,” she said. “We simply can’t kill this antimony story.”

Initial metallurgical testing indicated antimony recoveries of 83% to produce a saleable concentrate grade of 38.5%. Further testing produced a concentrate grade of 49%.

Further antimony assays are due in the next couple of weeks.

The company also plans to release a maiden antimony resource this quarter.

“It does not change our gold focus at all,” Buckingham said. “If anything, it’s just a fantastic addition that will add value to our gold story.”

Exploration upside

A focus for Warriedar is the Golden Corridor, a 25km-long trend from the Austin deposit in the north to the Bugeye deposit in the south, which hosts six deposits and 18 historical pits, all on permitted mining leases and all connected by a partially sealed haul road.

“Ricciardo is surrounded by other deposits that simply haven’t had enough drilling,” Buckingham said.

Yesterday, Warriedar reported results from a reverse circulation scout drilling program along the Golden Corridor.

Results included 10m at 2.02g/t gold from 124m; 2m at 3.89g/t gold from 78m; 1m at 11.69g/t gold from 102m; 6m at 2.99g/t gold from 149m; and 4m at 5.51g/t gold from 24m across multiple deposits.

A RC rig is due to start drilling at the Windinne Well deposit in the next two weeks.

Windinne Well has an existing resource of 91,700oz at 2.9g/t gold and Buckingham said it could be a “fantastic starter pit”.

“I’d like to double Windinne Well and move onto the next deposit,” she said.

Warriedar also sees potential at the southern end of the project, which is particularly underexplored.

“I see no reason why there can’t be another Ricciardo to the south,” Buckingham said.

Buckingham said much of the project’s 70km strike length was under cover and there was very little exploration completed at depth.

“It’s quite an opportunity,” she said. “The search space for new gold deposits is wide open.”

Pathway to development…or M&A?

Warriedar has completed initial met testing on primary Ricciardo mineralisation samples, which returned recoveries of up to 96% achieved.

The project historically produced 350,000oz of gold up until 2019 from an onsite oxide plant which is currently on care and maintenance.

The company estimates the plant has a replacement value of roughly A$80 million and with the help of consultants, estimated it would cost A$13-20 million to refurbish.

“We wanted to understand what a refurbishment of our mill would cost,” Buckingham said.

She added that with a mill, a camp, sealed roads and granted mining leases, the project ticked “all the boxes in terms of a pathway to development”.

Warriedar is also close to many operating mines in the Murchison region, including Vault Minerals’ Deflector and 29Metals’ Golden Grove.

“We are surrounded by long-life, deep-tapping gold and base metals mines,” Buckingham said.

The company is chaired by Mark Connelly, who is known for deal-making, including at Astral Resources, which just announced the takeover of Maximus Resources.

Buckingham said Warriedar had been keen to get to know its neighbours.

“The door is always open for interesting conversations,” she said.

Warriedar is fully funded for its 2025 exploration program with cash of A$10.57 million at the end of December.

Buckingham said the company runs “on the smell of an oily rag”. “We spend as much money in the ground as possible,” she said.