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Chalice boss touts ‘secret sauce’ for exploration after gold and copper strike at Kestrel in NT
Chalice Mining strikes high-grade gold and copper at Kestrel in the Northern Territory, with drilling results released Monday.
Key points
- The first hole returned a 15m section averaging 8.6 grams of gold per tonne and 0.54 per cent copper, starting 78m down.
- All six holes at Kestrel hit copper across roughly 500m, including a 24m section averaging 0.52 per cent.
- Chalice shares rose 3.3 per cent to 95¢ in afternoon trade but remained almost 56 per cent lower this year.
Why it matters. Chalice said it had $53 million in cash and liquid investments at September 30 and no near-term funding constraints, though drilling spending would depend on results.
Chalice Mining has intersected high-grade mineralisation at Kestrel, about 65km west-northwest of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. The first hole returned a 15m section averaging 8.6 grams of gold per tonne and 0.54 per cent copper, starting 78m down. Managing director Alex Dorsch told investors on Monday that the company had set itself up for a significant multi-year exploration program, and he bought about $191,000 worth of Chalice shares himself.
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Chalice boss touts ‘secret sauce’ for exploration after gold and copper strike at Kestrel in NT
Chalice has struck gold and copper in the NT, giving battered shareholders something to cheer. Boss Alex Dorsch says the explorer is ‘cashed up’ and eyeing more drilling before Christmas. Chalice Mining has struck high-grade gold and copper in the Northern Territory, more than six years after its Julimar discovery near Perth thrust the junior explorer into the spotlight. The first hole at Kestrel, about 65km west-northwest of Tennant Creek, returned a 15m section averaging 8.6 grams of gold per tonne and 0.54 per cent copper, beginning 78m down the hole. Managing director Alex Dorsch said the find showed Chalice had a “secret sauce when it comes to exploration”. “We’ve set ourselves up for a significant exploration program over multiple years with upside,” he told investors on Monday, also buying about $191,000 worth of Chalice shares himself. Chalice shares rose 3.3 per cent to 95¢ in afternoon trade but remained almost 56 per cent lower this year. The stock was hammered in 2023 after investors questioned the development costs and bullish metal-price assumptions behind Gonneville, the deposit discovered at Julimar. All six holes at Kestrel hit copper across roughly 500m, including a 24m section averaging 0.52 per cent. The richest gold, however, was concentrated in two metres of the discovery hole. That section averaged 56.7g/t and accounted for about 87 per cent of the gold i.