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Doug Bright
Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits looks at the notable drilling interactions recently reported to the ASX, led by Aldoro Resources’ 503.98 meter precious metals intercept in Namibia. Pantoro Gold also drilled gold to 189.84g/t at the Norseman field, while Mithril struck 9.65 meters at 7g/t gold and 370g/t silver at Copalquin in Mexico. So let’s dive in.
ALDORO RESOURCES (ASX: ARN)
Project: Kameelburg rare earth, strontium and niobium project, Namibia.
Dial: 503.98m for 1.30% TREO, 4.01% strontium carbonate, 0.17% niobium pentoxide and 190ppm molybdenum from surface.
Aldoro Resources has activated its Namibian Kameelburg project by drilling a large diamond, which was bored through a continuous mineralized path of 503.98 meters from surface.
The hole on the east side of the carbonatite contained an average of 1.30 percent total rare earth oxides (TREO), 4.01 percent strontium carbonate, 0.17 percent niobium pentoxide and 190 parts per million molybdenum.
The half kilometer drill path is one of the longest drill paths reported from the project to date and enhances the sustainability and scale of the system.
Within the broader envelope, the company highlighted two high-level areas that will be available in its next resource update.
They include an upper 129m zone at 1.67 per cent TREO and 4.91 per cent strontium carbonate, and a lower 27m zone grading 2.39 per cent TREO and 6.3 per cent strontium carbonate downhole.
In particular, high-grade ore at the bottom of the hole remains exposed at depth, indicating potential for additional growth.
Backing up the drilling success, Aldoro also revealed a major upgrade of its Kameelburg mineral resource this week, based on 29 diamond drill holes in two phases, totaling 12,044m of drilling.
The update presented a significant inferred mineral resource of 597.07 million tonnes (Mt) at 2.49% TREO equivalent, including a high grade component of 312.65Mt at 2.87% TREO equivalent.
TREO balance is based on an average aggregate grade of 1.19 percent TREO, 0.20 percent niobium pentoxide and 205ppm molybdenum at a 0.5 percent TREO cut grade.
The new resource estimate represents a 15 percent increase in tonnes over the company’s September 2025 numbers.
In the old “but wait, there’s more” sequence, the main feature supporting TREO’s resource came in containing 596.01Mt grading 2.17% strontium carbonate, which the company says ranks as the largest known strontium resource in the world.
Aldoro’s strontium ore exploration has returned encouraging results, with up to 98.96 percent strontium extraction achieved in just two hours at ambient temperature.
Strontium’s highest value use is in medicine, especially in cancer treatment, which adds another strategic perspective to the company’s already unusual mix of essential minerals.
Aldoro also reported drilling monitoring from a second hole on the northern flank of the carbonatite, targeting the outer limits of the system. The hole intersected a 19m niobium-rich zone at 0.41% niobium pentoxide, alongside additional rare earth and strontium-bearing intervals.
Although not long after it hit the headlines, the findings have helped define the northeastern boundary of the mineralized envelope, suggesting the niobium-rich zone extends beyond the core of the high-grade rare earths.
With results pending from the remaining two-hole phase and a further resource update slated for June, Aldoro is confirming what appears to be a globally significant, multi-product critical mineral system centered around the rare earths, strontium and niobium.
PANTORO GOLD (ASX: PNR)
Project: Norseman gold project, Western Australia.
Dial: 8m at 28.68g/t gold, including 1m at 189.84g/t gold.
Pantoro Gold has announced a potentially game-changing discovery at its Racetrack target within the Norseman Mainfield in WA, landing a large group of attractive gold finds that could add a new source of ore to the company’s OK Underground Mine. Early drilling has defined an area of higher grade than the current strike length of 400m, extending from near surface to a depth of about 600m and sitting just 600m north of the existing mine infrastructure.
The headline from previous Racetrack drilling returned 8m at 28.68g/t gold, including 1m measuring an astonishing 189.84g/t – or more than six ounces of gold – per tonne. The second hole yielded 5m at 28.73g/t gold, including 2m at 68.05g/t gold.
The company also reported another high-grade run of 2.01m at 82.99g/t gold, including 1m at 165g/t, with more tracks from splays associated with parallel formations. Those types of grades, along with the size of the structure identified so far, suggest Pantoro may be in a new high-grade position rather than a single ore shell.
Geologically, the Racetrack is interpreted as an east-northeast cross link structure between Mararoa Reef and Crown Reef. The company says it could be similar to the nearby Bullen Reef, which has historically delivered more than 500,000 ounces of gold.
The comparison is important because Bullen-style designs are known to have superior offshoots in Norseman. Pantoro’s current interpretation is that the Racetrack is low near the surface before it fills to 60 degrees south, and the high grade area entering the west is now from the original well spaced drill pattern.
The target has so far been tested with a standard 200m by 80m format, so the market is still looking at an early stage image. However, the area remains open to the east and down, and Pantoro says there is still about 1km of strike between the current run results and the Mararoa Reef which has yet to be tested.
Equally important, the discovery sits close enough to OK Underground’s existing infrastructure to provide a potentially low-cost route to production, should continuity and tonnage accumulate after further drilling.
The width of the back also helps. Norseman’s Pantoro project already carries a total mineral resource of 4.6 million ounces and mineral reserves of 859,000 ounces, and a 1.2Mtpa processing plant is in place and the company’s growth strategy is targeting 100,000 ounces per year initially before expanding to more than 200,000 ounces per year.
Against that backdrop, Racetrack looks like a high-growth wild card that could be very valuable if additional volume and drilling can turn the discovery into a mineral resource and reserve ounces.
MITHRIL (ASX: MTH)
Project: Copalquin gold project, Durango State, Mexico.
Dial: 9.65m at 7g/t gold and 370g/t silver from 271.4m, including 0.5m at 30.7g/t gold and 1780g/t silver.
Mithril Silver and Gold has continued to strengthen its case for meaningful resource development at Copalquin in Mexico’s Durango State, delivering another batch of high-grade gold mining results from its Target 1 area, ahead of an updated mineral resource estimate at the end of June.
The best results came from a hole 230m west of the current resource envelope, which returned 9.65m in 7g/t gold and 370g/t silver from 271.4m, confirming the continuation of high grade mineralization previously intercepted about 300m west of the 2021 resource boundary.
Within that wider interval, the same hole included 2.75m at 8.58g/t gold and 486g/t silver from 271.4m, including 0.95m at 15.15g/t gold and 980g/t silver.
It also included an additional 3.25m at 11.52g/t gold and 596g/t silver from 275.8m, which included 0.50m at 30.70g/t punchy gold and 1780g/t silver.
Mithril says the hole was drilled as a step 50 meters from the high-grade finds reported last year and, more importantly, sits about 300 meters west and downslope from the base of the Target 1 mineral resource.
That means the result does more than add an interesting interrupt to the board – it pushes the western limits of the known resource envelope and supports expansion that could make sense in the next update.
The latest excavation was not above the head hole either. A second hole closed within the resource marker yielded 3.45m gold grading 12.09g/t gold and 249g/t silver from 153.9m, including 0.85m grading 24.60g/t gold and 327g/t silver from 156m.
That’s important because Copalquin’s first 2021 resource in Target 1 has already defined an indicated resource of 691,000 tonnes at 5.43g/t gold and 114g/t silver.
The first envelope also has an estimated resource of 1.725 million tonnes at 4.55g/t gold and 152g/t silver, for 252,000 ounces of gold and 8.4 million ounces of silver, at a gold cut-off grade of 2g/t equivalent.
The company’s current campaign is designed to raise confidence and expand the mineralization beyond previous resource limits, and small drilling is expected to improve the geological structure before the June update.
Beyond its rapid resource work, Mithril positions Copalquin as the real high-level gold system of the district, a view supported by more than 100 historic works scattered across its 70 square kilometer land holdings.
The company has planned up to 25,000m of drilling in the first six to eight months of 2026. It is pursuing new targets through mapping, sampling, LiDAR and geophysics, while the recently added La Dura property provides additional brownfields.
For now, though, the market’s immediate direction may be updated on the upcoming Target 1 resource update in June and whether mineralization like the one described in the headline hole could translate into meaningful excitement in ounces of gold and silver.
Is your ASX listed company doing something interesting? Address: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
