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Southern Cross Gold has commenced underground drilling at its Sunday Creek gold-antimony project in Victoria, marking a new phase of exploration ahead of a planned maiden mineral resource estimate in 2027.
Two underground diamond drill rigs have been mobilised into the project’s exploration decline, joining 12 surface rigs and bringing the total number operating at Sunday Creek to 14. The company plans to introduce another two underground rigs later in November, followed by eight more in February 2027, increasing the total fleet to 24 rigs.
Southern Cross Gold president and chief executive officer Michael Hudson said the transition underground was a significant milestone for the project.
“Within 5 months of firing our exploration decline portal, we now have drill rigs underground, an incredible effort from our mining and drill teams and contractors,” he said.
“This was the main aim of the exploration decline. Two underground rigs are now operating, and with 12 rigs on surface we now have 14 rigs operating at Sunday Creek.”
According to Southern Cross, drilling from underground will allow shorter holes to reach mineralisation at depth, reducing drilling costs and enabling around-the-clock operations with less surface disturbance.
The commencement of underground drilling comes five months after work began on the exploration decline, which was developed to provide access for drilling deeper parts of the mineralised system.
Located approximately 60km north of Melbourne, Sunday Creek hosts gold and antimony mineralisation across a series of vein structures that Southern Cross is continuing to investigate through an extensive drilling program.
The company has reported 288 drill holes totalling approximately 140,849m at Sunday Creek since late 2020, with exploration focused on extending known mineralisation and testing additional targets.
Southern Cross is targeting its first mineral resource estimate and economic studies during the first half of 2027, with the expanded drilling program intended to support those milestones.
Hudson said the additional rigs would be directed towards extending mineralisation beyond the areas tested to date.
“Every one of those rigs is pointed at growing mineralisation beyond current drilling limits and aiming to produce our first mineral resource estimate and economic studies during the first half of 2027,” he said.
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