Critical Resources Ltd (ASX:CRR, FRA:9S70) has confirmed high-grade gold mineralisation at the Devils Creek target within its Lammerlaw Gold Project in New Zealand, while also identifying a separate untested soil anomaly that could expand the project’s exploration footprint.
First-pass rock-chip sampling returned assays of up to 5.42 g/t gold from the historic Devils Creek workings in Central Otago, with additional float samples along the interpreted mineralised trend grading 1.63 g/t, 1.45 g/t and 0.48 g/t gold.
The results form part of an early-stage exploration program across the company’s broader 1,694-square-kilometre New Zealand portfolio and add further momentum to Critical Resources’ recent shift towards gold and critical minerals exploration alongside its battery technology initiatives and Canadian lithium assets.
Location of Critical Resources’ New Zealand gold projects with major gold mining operations.
“These first-pass results provide strong field support for the Devils Creek target and confirm gold mineralisation associated with the historic hard-rock workings,” CRR managing director Tim Wither said.
“Encouragingly, our soil and trial water geochemistry point to the same structure and independently identified a new, untested target that earlier explorers did not detect,” he added.
“The 5.42 g/t Au rock-chip result is an early outcome; what matters at this stage is that several low-cost, surface-based methods are converging and generating their own targets for follow-up.”
Lammerlaw project with rock-chip samples and water geochemistry points
Devils Creek mineralisation strengthened
Critical Resources said the highest-grade assays were clustered around the historic Devils Creek workings and associated mineralised trend, supporting the interpretation of a gold-bearing lode or shear system.
The company believes the target sits within a broader structurally controlled corridor in the Otago Schist Belt, a region known for significant gold mineralisation but which has seen relatively limited modern exploration at Lammerlaw itself.
The latest work builds on earlier desktop targeting studies that identified Devils Creek, Stony Creek and the TZ3-TZ4 structural boundary as priority areas for follow-up exploration.
Importantly, no drilling has yet been completed at Devils Creek, leaving the target at a relatively early stage despite the encouraging surface results.
Soil sampling identifies new target
Alongside the rock-chip work, Critical Resources completed first-pass soil geochemistry surveys over Devils Creek and a separate target area, collecting 107 soil samples using portable XRF analysis.
At Devils Creek, the program outlined coherent arsenic anomalism spatially associated with historic workings and anomalous gold samples, with readings peaking at 757 parts per million arsenic.
The company said the results supported the interpretation that the Devils Creek mineralised structure remained open along strike.
More significantly from a broader exploration perspective, the soil program also identified a separate arsenic anomaly extending roughly 600 metres over an interpreted structural and geophysical target area that had not been recognised in historical exploration data.
Lammerlaw soil and water geochemistry summary showing CRR soil pXRF arsenic results, interim water geochemistry sample locations, historical New Age Exploration pXRF arsenic soil data and surrounding tenure. Historical NAE data are shown for regional context only and are not directly comparable with CRR’s current QAQC-corrected soil pXRF dataset.
Critical Resources cautioned the anomaly remained reconnaissance in nature and did not yet demonstrate economic mineralisation or continuity.
Water geochemistry expands screening program
The company also trialled dissolved trace-element sampling in local catchment waters as a low-cost regional exploration tool. Fifteen water samples were collected and analysed for soluble elements, with arsenic used as the principal orientation element.
Critical Resources said the preliminary results demonstrated that dissolved arsenic responses could help identify concealed mineralisation across the broader project area and would now be expanded across its New Zealand portfolio.
The approach is intended to complement soil geochemistry, mapping and geophysical interpretation as the company refines and ranks exploration targets.
Lammerlaw permit showing locations of prospect targets and historic mine workings and surrounding permits.
Broader New Zealand exploration pipeline advancing
While Devils Creek is emerging as a near-term priority, Critical Resources said field programs were continuing across several New Zealand projects.
At the Croesus project, first-pass fieldwork over tungsten and gold-antimony targets has been completed, with assays expected in early June.
Meanwhile, follow-up drilling is being designed at the Cap Burn and Rock and Pillar projects after earlier RC drilling confirmed structurally controlled gold mineralisation beneath the Cap Burn Fault. The company also said desktop review and targeting work were continuing at the Silver Peaks and Tokomairiro projects, where land access discussions remain ongoing.
Critical Resources said upcoming work at Lammerlaw would focus on detailed structural mapping, additional rock-chip and soil sampling at Devils Creek, and ground-truthing of the newly identified Target Two anomaly.