Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits looks at notable drill intercepts recently reported to the ASX, led by Aldoro Resources’ huge 503.98m critical metals intercept in Namibia. Pantoro Gold also jagged gold up to 189.84g/t at Norseman, while Mithril struck 9.65m at 7g/t gold and 370g/t silver at Copalquin in Mexico. So let’s dive in.
ALDORO RESOURCES (ASX: ARN)
Project: Kameelburg rare earths, strontium and niobium project, Namibia.
Hit: 503.98m at 1.30% TREO, 4.01% strontium carbonate, 0.17% niobium pentoxide and 190ppm molybdenum from surface.
Aldoro Resources has lit up its Namibian Kameelburg project with a monster diamond drill hit, which bored through a continuously mineralised 503.98-metre intercept from surface.
The hole on the carbonatite’s eastern flank averaged 1.30 per cent total rare earth oxides (TREO), 4.01 per cent strontium carbonate, 0.17 per cent niobium pentoxide and 190 parts per million molybdenum.
The half-kilometre drill intercept is one of the longest mineralised core runs reported from the project to date and reinforces the continuity and scale of the system.
Within the broader envelope, the company highlighted two higher-grade zones that will likely feed into its next resource update.
They comprise an upper section of 129m at 1.67 per cent TREO and 4.91 per cent strontium carbonate, and a lower 27m zone running 2.39 per cent TREO with 6.3 per cent strontium carbonate at the base of the hole.
Notably, the high-grade mineralisation at the bottom of the hole remains open at depth, signalling additional growth potential.
Backing up that drilling success, Aldoro also revealed a major upgrade to its Kameelburg mineral resource this week, based on 29 diamond drill holes across two phases, totalling 12,044m of drilling.
The update delivered a whopping inferred mineral resource of 597.07 million tonnes (Mt) at 2.49 per cent TREO equivalent, including a higher-grade component of 312.65Mt at 2.87 per cent TREO equivalent.
The TREO equivalence is derived from the combined average grades of 1.19 per cent TREO, 0.20 per cent niobium pentoxide and 205ppm molybdenum at a 0.5 per cent TREO cut-off grade.
The new resource estimate represents a 15 per cent increase in tonnage over the company’s September 2025 numbers.
In the old “but wait, there’s more” segue, a standout complement to the TREO resource came with the inclusion of a maiden inferred 596.01Mt at 2.17 per cent strontium carbonate, which the company says ranks as the largest known strontium resource globally.
Aldoro’s strontium metallurgical testwork has returned encouraging results, with up to 98.96 per cent strontium extraction being achieved in just two hours at ambient temperature.
Strontium’s highest-value use is in medicine, particularly in cancer treatment, which adds another strategic angle to the company’s already unusual mix of critical minerals.
Aldoro also reported follow-up drilling from a second hole on the northern flank of the carbonatite, targeting the system's outer limits. The hole intersected a niobium-rich zone of 19m at 0.41 per cent niobium pentoxide, alongside additional rare earths and strontium-bearing intervals.
While not as long as the headline hit, the results have helped to define the northeastern boundary of the mineralised envelope, suggesting the niobium-bearing zone extends beyond the higher-grade rare earths core.
With results pending from the remaining phase two holes and a further resource update flagged for June, Aldoro is firming up what appears to be a globally significant, multi-commodity critical minerals system spanning rare earths, strontium and niobium.
Aldoro Resources' Kameelburg Carbonatite is a highly prospective, large-scale alkaline intrusive complex located in north-central Namibia, 300km north of Windhoek. It rises up to 276m above the surrounding plain. Credit: File.
PANTORO GOLD (ASX: PNR)
Project: Norseman gold project, Western Australia.
Hit: 8m at 28.68g/t gold, including 1m at 189.84g/t gold.
Pantoro Gold has outlined a potentially game-changing high-grade discovery at its Racetrack target within the Norseman Mainfield in WA, landing a broad cluster of impressive gold intercepts that could add a fresh ore source for the company’s OK Underground Mine. Early drilling has defined a high-grade zone over a current 400m strike length, extending from near-surface to about 600m depth and sitting just 600m north of the existing mine infrastructure.
The headline hit from the initial drilling at Racetrack delivered 8m at 28.68g/t gold, including 1m assaying a stunning 189.84g/t – or more than six ounces of gold - to the tonne. A second hole delivered 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, along with a suite of additional hits from associated splays and parallel structures. Those sorts of grades, combined with the scale of the structure identified so far, suggest Pantoro may be onto a serious new high-grade position rather than simply a one-off mineralised pod.
Geologically, Racetrack is interpreted as an east-northeast-trending cross-link structure between the Mararoa Reef and the Crown Reef. The company says it may be analogous to the nearby Bullen Reef, which has historically delivered more than 500,000 ounces of gold.
That comparison matters because Bullen-style cross structures are known to host robust high-grade shoots at Norseman. Pantoro’s current interpretation is that Racetrack is subvertical near surface before flattening to about 60 degrees south, with a west-plunging high-grade zone now emerging from the initial wide-spaced drill pattern.
The target has so far been tested on a nominal 200m by 80m drill pattern, so the market is still looking at a relatively early-stage picture. Even so, the zone remains open to the east and down dip, and Pantoro says there is still about 1km of strike between the current Racetrack results and the Mararoa Reef that has yet to be tested.
Just as importantly, the discovery sits close enough to existing OK Underground infrastructure to offer a potentially low-cost pathway to production, if continuity and tonnes stack up after more drilling.
The broader backdrop also helps. Pantoro’s Norseman project already carries a total mineral resource of 4.6 million ounces and ore reserves of 859,000 ounces, with a 1.2Mtpa processing plant in place and a corporate growth strategy targeting 100,000 ounces per annum initially before expanding to more than 200,000 ounces a year.
Against that setting, Racetrack looks like a high-grade growth wildcard that could become materially important if infill and extensional drilling can convert the discovery into mineral resource and reserve ounces.
MITHRIL (ASX: MTH)
Project: Copalquin silver-gold project, Durango State, Mexico.
Hit: 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 a meaningful resource upgrade at Copalquin in Mexico’s Durango State, delivering another batch of solid high-grade silver-gold drilling results from its Target 1 area, ahead of a planned mineral resource estimate update in late June.
The standout result came from a hole 230m west of the current resource envelope, which returned 9.65m at 7g/t gold and 370g/t silver from 271.4m, confirming the continuation of previously intercepted high-grade mineralisation about 300m west of the 2021 resource boundary.
Within that broader 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 a punchy 30.70g/t gold and 1780g/t silver.
Mithril says the hole was drilled as a 50m step-out from high-grade intercepts reported last year and, importantly, sits roughly 300m west and down plunge from the original Target 1 mineral resource footprint.
That means the result is doing more than adding a flashy intercept to the board – it is pushing the western limits of the known resource envelope and supporting a potentially meaningful expansion in the upcoming update.
The latest drilling was not all about the headline hole, either. A second hole collared within the resource footprint delivered 3.45m going 12.09g/t gold and 249g/t silver from 153.9m, including 0.85m at 24.60g/t gold and 327g/t silver from 156m.
That matters because Copalquin’s 2021 maiden resource at Target 1 has already outlined an indicated resource of 691,000 tonnes at 5.43g/t gold and 114g/t silver.
That maiden resource envelope also contains an inferred 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 2g/t gold equivalent cut-off grade.
The company’s current campaign is designed to lift confidence and expand the mineralised footprint beyond the initial resource boundary, with tighter drilling expected to improve the geological model ahead of the June update.
Beyond its immediate resource work, Mithril is pitching Copalquin as a genuine district-scale epithermal silver-gold system, a view supported by more than 100 historic underground workings scattered across its 70-square-kilometre landholding.
The company has planned up to 25,000m of drilling in the first six to eight months of 2026. It is progressing new targets through mapping, sampling, LiDAR and geophysics, while the recently added La Dura property offers additional brownfields upside.
For now, though, the market’s near-term focus is likely to remain fixed on its upcoming Target 1 resource update in June and on whether mineralisation such as that defined in the headline hole can translate into a meaningful uptick in gold and silver ounces.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Doug Bright
