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Murray Ward
Aureka Limited has taken to the skies at its flagship Irvine gold project in Victoria’s renowned Stawell Corridor, launching a high-resolution drone magnetic survey to sharpen its hunt for the next big discovery.
The low-altitude airborne survey is designed to provide a “step change” in the company’s geological understanding of Irvine by establishing the underlying structural architecture and defining subsurface features with far greater precision than the historical data allows.
By flying at an altitude of just 50 metres with tight 50-metre line spacings, Aureka expects to deliver a significantly improved dataset compared to regional heli-borne surveys captured by the Geological Survey of Victoria back in the late 1980’s.
The survey is being conducted alongside continuous diamond drilling at the project, which already hosts a JORC-compliant mineral resource of 304,000 ounces of gold grading 2.43 grams per tonne(g/t) of gold.
‘Now is the right time to fly this survey as we stepout to more ambitious targets.’
Aureka Limited managing director James Gurry
Management believes the timing is perfect to secure the high-definition data as the company prepares to drill a 2000-metre underexplored “gap” between its two primary deposits – the 264,000-ounce Resolution lode and the 40,300-ounce Adventure lode.
Aureka Limited managing director James Gurry said: “After nearly 7,000m of diamond drilling in 2025, now is the right time to fly this survey as we step out to more ambitious targets.”
Gold mineralisation at Irvine at the meeting point of two different rock types, especially where sheared basalt comes into contact with sedimentary rocks. The new survey will help highlight subtle magnetic features that may influence important mineral controls.
The move follows a busy 2025 for the company, which included nearly 7,000 metres of diamond drilling. Late last year, targeted drilling successfully identified the highly prospective Tenacity mineralised structure. The drill bit delivered exceptional gold intercepts, including a 10-metre section running at 12.1g/t gold from 413m, featuring bonanza high-grade intervals of 0.3m at 183g/t of gold and 0.3m of 64.3g/t of gold.
The excitement continued at the company’s St Arnaud project, where new mineralised structures sub-parallel to the existing 56,000-ounce resource have been identified.
Aureka is geographically well-placed, with Irvine just 16km south of the privately owned Stawell gold mine, which is home to 890,000 ounces of gold grading a very respectable 3g/t. Historically, the Stawell area has produced more than five million ounces of the yellow metal.
Additionally, Irvine occupies the northern portion of the historic Ararat goldfield, a region with a rich history of high-grade gold production. Curiously, a gold rush in the mid 1800’s drew up to 9000 Chinese miners, chasing a lode called the Canton lead – a buried river system packed with gold and one of the richest of its kind ever discovered in Australia.
Once drone surveying is complete, the company expects to have the processed results and analysis in hand within six to eight weeks.
With the drill rods about to start spinning and a high-tech eye in the sky, Aureka appears to be leaving no stone unturned as it looks to grow its Victorian gold footprint. It’s an ambitious, data-driven approach that should have punters watching the horizon with plenty of interest.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
