Larvotto extends high-grade gold-antimony system at Hillgrove

The drilling program at the company's wholly owned Hillgrove antimony-gold project delivered a standout intersection of 10 metres grading 9.61 grams per tonne gold equivalent from 526 metres depth, including a four-metre section averaging 19.91 grams per tonne gold equivalent. Another shallow hit returned 9 metres at 8.05 grams per tonne gold equivalent from 105 metres, with further notable intercepts including 2.4 metres at 10.37 grams per tonne gold equivalent from 146.7 metres.

The Freehold prospect lies 1.2 kilometres east of Larvotto's recently commissioned Hillgrove processing plant. The project is forecast to produce 4,900 tonnes of antimony and 40,500 ounces of gold per annum over an initial eight-year mine life. The first physical shipment of 68 tonnes of antimony concentrate left the site gate in October.

Larvotto Resources managing director Ron Heeks said the completed program had substantially advanced the company's understanding of the historically important mining centre. "Drilling has extended mineralisation beyond the known workings, confirmed multiple gold-antimony-tungsten lodes and defined the system over more than 700 metres of strike," he said. "The standout intersection in FRE042 demonstrates the potential for high-grade shoots to continue down-plunge within the broader Freehold structure."

The drilling confirmed multiple steeply dipping, northwest-trending structures hosting the mineralisation, with the system remaining open to the south and at depth. Tungsten mineralisation, a critical metal, was also intersected, including 1.5 metres at 1.95 per cent tungsten trioxide from 16 metres depth. Recent metallurgical testwork on Hillgrove mineralisation achieved 90 per cent tungsten recovery, although Larvotto used a 70 per cent recovery assumption in its gold-equivalent calculations.

Australia is establishing a Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve initially focused on antimony, with up to $1 billion in government support for reserve transactions through an expanded $5 billion critical minerals facility, reflecting concerns over ongoing tight global supply.

Freehold is not yet included in the project's broader mineral resource of 1.7 million ounces of gold equivalent. The new data will be incorporated into geological modelling and resource estimation, with future drilling priority ranked alongside other targets for potential resource expansion.