Golden Horse Minerals has intersected visible gold in the first diamond drill hole of its 2026 campaign at the Hopes Hill prospect within its Southern Cross gold project in Western Australia.

The result came from hole 26HHDD001, drilled beneath the historic Hopes Hill open pit, which previously produced 216,000 ounces at 2.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.

The diamond hole returned 4.0 metres at 4.6g/t gold from 297 metres, including 1.1 metres at 8.6g/t gold from 297 metres, within a broader 7.0-metre zone grading 2.8g/t gold.

Visible gold was identified at 297.56 metres downhole within quartz-sericite schist in the footwall sequence, more than 180 metres below the base of the historic pit and over 200 metres down-dip of the last mined material.

While the visible gold occurred in the non-sampled half of the core, the company undertook fire assays to extinction across surrounding intervals to assess grade variability and nugget effects.

Of 156 re-assays completed across three key samples between 297.0 metres and 298.1 metres, more than half returned grades above 5.0g/t gold, with a peak assay of 63.3g/t gold.

Golden Horse managing director Nicholas Anderson said the intercept validated the company’s geological model.

“With the very first hole drilled at Hopes Hill for 2026, we are thrilled to report that we have intercepted visible gold in 26HHDD001, which is a testament to our belief in the potential of this mineralised system,” Anderson said.

“Whilst following geological best practice, we took the additional steps of comprehensively assaying around the visible gold to ensure we gain a detailed understanding of the gold deportment.

“Of the 156 re-assays, over half graded above 5.0 g/t gold with multiple +10 g/t gold assays to 63.3 g/t gold, highlighting the upside we see at Hopes Hill.

Anderson said the high-grade mineralisation is located within the footwall package, which was previously thought to have hosted lower-grade mineralisation.

“We backed ourselves and swung the rig onto a new hole to test our geological model, and to intersect visible gold in a rock unit outside the conventional ‘mine geology corridor’ is a fantastic outcome for the company,” he said.

The company has since increased its drill fleet from three to five rigs onsite, mobilising a second diamond rig and a third reverse circulation rig to accelerate its 125-kilometre drill program across Hopes Hill and the broader Southern Cross tenure.

“Given the current gold price environment exceeding $7000 per ounce in AUD terms, we have elected to expedite our 125-kilometre drill program for 2026,” Anderson said.

Golden Horse holds more than 1800 square kilometres of tenure in the Southern Cross Greenstone Belt, targeting extensions to historic mines as well as new high-priority prospects.

Read more: How gold’s latest record reshapes the outlook for Australian miners

Subscribe to Australian Mining and receive the latest news on product announcements, industry developments, commodities and more.