Pilbara Gold Ltd (ASX:PGL) is accelerating exploration and study work at its flagship 2.1-million-ounce Mt York Gold Project in Western Australia’s Pilbara, with five drill rigs active on site and a sixth rig due to join by the end of July.
The company has completed 13,748 metres of a planned 50,000-metre-plus drilling program, with first assays expected from late July as laboratories in Perth continue to report extended turnaround times.
The program is designed to test extensions of the Mt York deposit at depth and along strike, while also lifting confidence in the resource base ahead of a maiden reserve estimate for the project’s pre-feasibility study (PFS).
Long-section of the Mt York Gold Project showing all intercept points for historic drilling and planned intercept points for 2026 drilling. Drilling completed (results awaited) shown as black dots with white outline.
Drilling targets resource growth
Mt York currently hosts 2.1 million ounces of gold within a continuous 4.2-kilometre-long Banded Iron Formation (BIF), with the 2026 program targeting resource growth along the full BIF host rock.
Since April, five rigs — three diamond and two RC rigs — have been drilling across Gossan Hill, Breccia Hill, Main Hill Extension and Gilt Dragon, completing 39 holes so far.
Extensional drilling at Main Hill, Main Hill Extension, Breccia Hill and Gossan Hill has intersected BIF in all holes, the host rock for gold mineralisation at Mt York.
About half of the broader program is focused on extending mineralisation currently outside the mineral resource at depth and along strike.
Mt York and Gilt Dragon Prospects. Historic drilling and planned drilling shown.
Encouraging signs at Main Hill
Drilling began at Main Hill Extension in the northwest, following up 2025 results that included 9 metres at 3.92 g/t gold from 97 metres and 16 metres at 2.60 g/t gold from 143 metres.
Work has since moved to Main Hill and Breccia Hill, where the company is aiming to extend mineralisation below the current resource and convert areas of inferred resource within the pit shell to indicated status for a new mineral resource estimate later this year.
At Main Hill and Breccia Hill, drilling has intersected significant widths of grunerite-altered BIF, with strong to moderate sulphide alteration observed in most holes — a geological feature the company says is indicative of gold mineralisation elsewhere in the deposit.
One notable hole, 26MYDD022 at the western end of Main Hill, intersected more than 50 metres of sulphide alteration, veining and brecciation within the BIF, around 100 metres down-dip from previously reported mineralisation in hole 25MYDD031.
The company cautioned that observations from the current drilling are preliminary geological observations only and should not be treated as confirmation of the presence, grade or continuity of gold mineralisation.
PFS work advances
Alongside drilling, Pilbara Gold is progressing the Mt York PFS, with completion targeted for the second quarter of calendar 2027.
Metallurgical test work began in September 2025, with bulk composites, comminution samples and variability composites selected to help determine the optimal processing route. All samples have now been composited, with comminution test work and flowsheet development underway.
Orway Mineral Consultants has been engaged to review comminution results and conduct a circuit trade-off study, while early consultant engagement has begun across PFS workstreams.
Pilbara Gold managing director Dr Peter Turner said the company had adopted an accelerated drilling timetable by adding a sixth rig, with the program already 25% complete.
“This drilling campaign aims to increase resources yet again at this large gold project whilst completing the necessary infill drilling to increase confidence of the resource ahead of the new MRE later in the year,” Turner said.
What’s ahead
Pilbara Gold expects first 2026 assay results from late July, with a new mineral resource estimate planned later in 2026.
The updated resource will feed into the Mt York PFS, which is scheduled for completion in Q2 CY2027.