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Doug Bright
Larvotto Resources has kept the drill bit running hot at its Hillgrove antimony-gold project in New South Wales, with fresh diamond results from the historic Metz Mining Centre continuing to expand the story at the company’s Blacklode prospect.
A standout deep diamond hole beneath the adjacent Syndicate and Blacklode surface workings punched out a 31.5-metre intercept going 4.35 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent from 294.9m downhole, including 1.2m at 36.77g/t gold equivalent from the start of the interval.
The same hole also reported a separate narrow zone going 1.4m at 21.8g/t gold equivalent from 263.5m.
A second hole, collared on the same northing but 58m further west, intersected 14.5m at 2.3g/t gold equivalent from 79m, with mineralisation showing up at relatively shallow depths.
‘The presence of tungsten enhances the economic potential of the system as we look to build our exposure to critical minerals.’
Larvotto Resources managing director Ron Heeks
The antimony-gold results were accompanied by a welcome critical-minerals kicker in the form of tungsten mineralisation, which appears to be increasingly tracking closely with Larvotto’s antimony and gold lodes at Hillgrove – and Metz is no exception.
The deeper hit also carried 0.4m at an impressive 9.09 per cent tungsten trioxide from 294.9m, while the shallower western hole nailed 0.4m at 4.11 per cent tungsten trioxide from 38m and 0.6m at 3.68 per cent tungsten trioxide from 79.7m.
The pair was backed up by a third hole, with all three drilled into the footwall of the mostly untested Endurance lode system. The collars were spaced 90m apart on almost the same northing, on similar southward azimuths and inclinations, with depths ranging between 300m and 366m.
Larvotto designed the pattern to identify a westward extension of the Blacklode system, an east-west-trending, subvertical shear defined over a strike distance of more than 1km.
The holes also tested cross-linking zones where mineralisation is expected to intensify at structural junctions.
Those junctions include positions where the west-northwest-trending parallel Blacklode and Endurance lodes intersect the north-northwest-trending Syndicate and Midas Gully splays, a classic structural host location in many mineralised areas.
Larvotto Resources managing director Ron Heeks said: “Larvotto continues to deliver strong drilling results at the Metz Mining Centre. These new results confirm the continuity of mineralisation along the Blacklode structure, west of previously reported high-grade drilling results. The new results reinforce our confidence at Metz as we continue to explore the system beyond previous drilling and mining.”
Importantly for investors, the latest high-grade results will inform an upcoming resource and reserve upgrade planned for the Metz centre, which will also incorporate new underground drilling results.
Larvotto is working to bring Hillgrove back into production from mid-2026 and is pitching the operation as an emerging Australian source of strategically important antimony, with gold providing a significant economic margin. At the same time, tungsten could shape up as a handy third string.
The company’s early-March investor presentation points to a Hillgrove mineral resource of 8.77 million tonnes at 7.2 grams per tonne gold equivalent.
The venture is underpinned by an ore reserve of 3.01 million tonnes at 6.6 grams per tonne gold equivalent, with plenty of strike and depth potential left to chase more resources across its extensive NSW tenure.
The company now has four diamond drill rigs boring into high-potential resource zones across multiple mining centres, including Metz, Clarks Gully and Freehold, while at Garibaldi, resource definition drilling is nearing completion for the proposed open pit.
Underground development at the project began in December 2025 at Metz to prepare for production. Contractors MACA, Interquip and Mintrex are now upgrading the plant to a 525,000-tonnes-per-annum throughput.
With the drills still turning and refurbishment work gathering pace, Larvotto is looking to roll Hillgrove into restart mode with a growing inventory of gold, antimony and tungsten tonnes ready to be converted into fresh ounces and critical-minerals credits.
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