Beacon Minerals has completed the largest drill program in its history, receiving the final reverse circulation (RC) drilling results from its Iguana resource definition program at the Lady Ida gold project in Western Australia.
The final batch of assays covered 195 RC holes, closing out a 133,000m program designed to support an indicated resource down to the 360mRL of the Iguana orebody.
The results included several high-grade hits, led by 24m at 8.76 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 91m, including 1m at 81.20g/t gold from 100m and 1m at 61.00g/t gold from 101m.
Beacon also reported 20m at 9.90g/t gold from 23m, including 1m at 65.40g/t gold from 26m; 15m at 12.06g/t gold from 34m, including 1m at 134.00g/t gold from 38m; and 3m at 56.73g/t gold from 123m, including 1m at 154.00g/t gold from 123m.
The program’s completion now shifts attention to the next major milestone for Iguana, with Entech finalising a resource update expected in the first quarter of the 2026–27 financial year.
Beacon executive chairman and managing director Graham McGarry said the work had provided a stronger platform for the company’s operations.
“The Iguana Resource Definition drill program has been very successful for Beacon and has laid a strong foundation for Beacon’s ongoing mining and milling operations,” he said.
“Despite the large-scale drilling effort, the Iguana deposit remains open at depth and to the south, providing further potential to grow this company-defining asset beyond its current boundaries.
“The Company looks forward to releasing the Iguana Resource and Reserve update in the near future.”
Beacon describes Iguana as its premier gold project, listing the site as containing a 609,000-ounce JORC-compliant resource, while the broader Lady Ida project sits around 29km from the miner’s Jaurdi gold processing plant, roughly 50km west of Kalgoorlie.
For a producing or near-producing gold business such as Beacon, this proximity can also influence mine planning, reserve conversion, scheduling and the ability to feed existing processing infrastructure.
The timing also lands in a gold market where mine supply remains in focus. In its 2026 outlook, the World Gold Council said mine production is expected to rise modestly as high prices drive incremental increases, but it also said that longer-term opportunities remain around finding, permitting, financing and building new large-scale mining projects.
The World Gold Council also said total first quarter gold demand, including over-the-counter investment, was up two per cent year-on-year at 1231 tonnes, while the value of quarterly demand jumped 74 per cent to a record $US193 billion.
Beacon’s next resource update will be able to showcase how its drilling translates strong intercepts into mineable inventory, especially since Iguana remains open at depth and to the south, giving it further exploration and growth potential beyond the current drilling footprint.
The Iguana deposit is located on the inferred extension of the Ida Fault and within the Mount Ida Greenstone Belt.
Beacon said the deposit’s mineralisation is controlled by structural and hydrothermal alteration, with recent diamond drilling identifying two in-situ mineralisation styles: a dominant sulphide-rich gold style and a later-stage quartz-fuchsite style that locally includes coarse visible gold.
