NSW gold, antimony-tungsten hits stack up for Larvotto

Larvotto Resources has continued to stack gold and antimony hits at its Hillgrove project in New South Wales, this time confirming broad zones of high-grade gold-antimony-tungsten across multiple lodes at its expanding Freehold exploration prospect. 

The 4300m diamond drilling program targeted depth extensions of historically mined old workings, with the company confident its results now validate the system's scale and depth persistence. 

Standout intercepts include a shallow 8.3 metre hit running a handy 7.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent (gold and antimony) from 59m, along with multiple robust zones in another hole such as 8m at 5.54g/t from 327m which included 1.8m at a whopping 21.34 g/t gold equivalent, a 4.45m hit grading 7.34 g/t from 361.5m and 3.9m at 7.28g/t 377.7m all from the same hole.

A third hole also returned a high-grade 3m hit at 10.04 g/t gold equivalent from 263m. 

Larvotto says a newly identified parallel zone at the prospect returned 2.6m at 4.04 g/t gold equivalent from 231m. At the same time, associated tungsten hits reached up to 0.6 metres at 1.43 per cent tungsten oxide. 

The results now confirm more than 350m of continuous open strike, with the system also open at depth below some 400m of mineralisation, reinforcing Freehold’s promise as a future underground mining centre close to the nearly up and running processing plant at Hillgrove.

The company says drilling is ongoing at Freehold as it continues to deliver strong and consistent results, reinforcing the upside potential of this historic mining prospect adjacent to its existing Hillgrove underground. 

The drilling at Freehold is just one of several expansion programs at Hillgrove, alongside drilling at Larvotto’s Metz and Swamp Creek prospects, with four diamond rigs active across the project. 

At Metz, efforts centre on defining the Blacklode and Syndicate structures convergence zone, also probing extensions below historic workings, and following step-out zones with multiple stacked high-grade areas of easy access.

The company has also kicked off underground grade control at the Metz mining centre, with Freehold and Swamp Creek remaining the key future resource expansion areas for substantial life-of-mine expansion.  

Larvotto Resources managing director Ron Heeks said: “Larvotto’s ongoing drilling at the Freehold prospect continues to deliver strong and consistent results, reinforcing the upside potential of this historic mining area. Drilling has confirmed continuity of gold and antimony mineralisation within and beyond the known lodes, with high-grade tungsten identified within the same structures, further highlighting the multi-commodity potential of the Hillgrove system.”

Hillgrove's multi-element profile, including antimony, gold and tungsten, continues to shine in near-record price environments across the board. It positions Larvotto to potentially develop the Freehold prospect as a new underground hub close to its brand-new processing plant, amid success at over a dozen exploration targets across its project. 

The company says it remains on course for production ramp-up in 2026, supported by secured funding and ongoing plant refurbishments to deliver the highly strategic antimony-gold mineralisation to a hungry global market.

Beyond Hillgrove, Larvotto is steadily advancing its next phase of growth at its Eyre project in Western Australia. Aircore drilling has now been completed at site, supplying samples for rare earths metallurgical testing. Laboratory work is now underway to assess mineralogy, recovery rates and processing options across a range of encouraging targets. 

In Queensland, due diligence continues to progress at the historic Blockade copper mine near Mt Isa, where more than 4,100 metres of reverse circulation (RC) drilling has been wrapped up across five surrounding prospects. 

Early visual observations from Blockade have revealed several copper-mineralised intervals, with assays still pending. These results will feed into upcoming resource estimates and the final decision on acquisition.

With underground mining at Hillgrove back in motion and multiple exploration prospects returning shiny new antimony, gold and tungsten resources, the soon-to-be producer is hitting 2026 running as a seriously transformational year for the company.

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