Larvotto drills into gold-antimony riches at NSW Hillgrove project

Larvotto Resources has revealed another dazzling batch of gold-antimony intercepts from its Hillgrove project in New South Wales and the headline results at the company’s Eleanora and Golden Gate prospects are doing all the talking.

Larvotto’s latest diamond drilling has lit up the boards with a string of chunky, high-grade gold-antimony hits, which is likely to give its resource inventory a serious boost. 

Standout hits at Eleanora included 28.1 metres grading 5.68 grams per tonne gold equivalent from 186m and 18.4m at 6.26g/t gold equivalent from 86.6m, including a 2m section running at a whopping 23.64g/t gold equivalent, made up almost entirely of gold. 

Notably, drilling keeps picking up parallel footwall zones, as witnessed by the 23.61g/t gold hit, which hints at more rich, underexplored treasures waiting to be uncovered.

The results also build on an impressive resource at the company’s Garibaldi deposit, 250m southeast and running along the same lode structure, which currently stands at 2.7 million tonnes grading 6.6g/t gold equivalent for 396,000 ounces of gold and 19,000 tonnes of antimony.

Although the drilling was mainly focused on infill drilling, Eleanora’s proximity to Garibaldi has provided the company with the tantalising possibility of eventually joining both prospects into a single, much bigger orebody.

Over at the Golden Gate prospect, which runs parallel to Eleanora 300m southeast, the truth-telling rigs were equally successful at picking up mineralisation. Best results included 5.8m at 4.91g/t gold equivalent from 166.6m, 8.5m at 4.03g/t gold equivalent from 196m and a shallower 6.8m hit grading 3.35g/t gold equivalent from 47m depth.

Golden Gate was historically mined between the 1880s and 1940s but saw little modern attention before Larvotto stepped in earlier this year. Notably, the assays have unveiled new, multiple stacked lodes, with growing continuity starting to stitch together across the Golden Gate North, Mid and South reefs. 

Larvotto says the latest findings appear to point the way to a significant near-mine growth opportunity and a key ingredient in the company’s fast-moving push to expand its Hillgrove resource.

Larvotto Resources managing director Ron Heeks said: “Drilling at Eleanora continues to demonstrate the potential to deliver meaningful intersections, while Golden Gate is starting to show real continuity with multiple lodes developing.”

Larvotto has pivoted to fresh ground as drilling at Eleanora and Golden Gate nears a close due to construction of the onsite processing plant. 

At its Metz prospect, the drill bit will be focused on the intersection of the Blacklode and Syndicate lodes, 2 kilometres west of Eleanora, which the company sees as low-hanging fruit that could add near-term ounces. 

At the Freehold prospect, 1.2km from the Hillgrove plant, first-pass drilling has started to probe ground outside the current resource envelope that previously caught the old timers’ eyes.

Last month, Larvotto fired the starter’s gun on its $140 million Hillgrove antimony-gold project, locking in a final investment decision just 18 months after scooping it up for a bargain $8 million. 

The company was recently backed by a hefty US$105 million (A$161 million) bond issue and a $60 million equity raising, and is due to kick off production in the second quarter of 2026. This achievement would arguably mark one of the savviest deals struck on the ASX in the past two years.

The project is now on track to become the only new source of antimony outside China for the next four years, which is significant given demand is soaring after Beijing cut exports and sent prices quadrupling.

A May definitive feasibility study showed Hillgrove is a high-margin powerhouse. It forecast a $694 million net present value, $251 million in annual EBITDA and $128 million in free cash flow every year for 8.2 years. 

The study assumed a modest US$2850 (A$4357) per ounce price for gold and US$41,000 (A$62,700) per tonne for antimony. Replacing those numbers with the current spot prices sees the net present value explode to a jaw-dropping $1.269 billion, with EBITDA rocketing to $354 million and an annual free cash flow reaching $198 million.

With dazzling drill hits stacking up at Eleanora and Golden Gate, fresh exploration already underway at Metz and Freehold and construction momentum building, Larvotto appears to be fast transforming Hillgrove into a rare Aussie gold-antimony powerhouse.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au