Shares in Magnetic Resources Ltd (ASX: MAU) are trading higher after the company announced a new mineral resource estimate for its Lady Julie gold project.
The company said it had completed a number of deep diamond drill holes at the project's LJN4 deposit, with the aim to "boost confidence in the northern portion of the current resource, and to expand the resource at depth''.
Following this work, the company said the combined resource of the Lady Julie project now exceeded 39.1 million tonnes of ore containing 2.24 million ounces of gold, with more than 80% of this resource falling into the high confidence "indicated" category.
Magnetic Resources Managing Director George Sakalidis said the project had an "exceptional orebody''.
He went on to say:
In terms of resources, LJN4 alone now exceeds 2 million ounces, with 2.42 million ounces in the overall Laverton Project. This upgrade is significant because it confirms previous interpretations and builds confidence in the overall estimate. LJN4 is one of the largest and highest grade undeveloped open pit deposits in Western Australia. With the feasibility study completion and the permitting process advancing, Magnetic is rapidly evolving to a position of being 'shovel ready' for development.
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Further drilling on the cards for ASX gold stock
The company said more infill and extension drilling was being carried out with a view to extending the resource even further. A total of 14 holes is expected to be drilled as part of this campaign.
The company said it was well placed, given that the extensions to the resource estimate went beyond what was in last year's feasibility study.
As the company said:
LJN4 represents an excellent development proposition and is now significantly larger than the resource considered in the feasibility study (released to the ASX on 23 July 2025), both in scale and detail, with the depth of information now available providing increased confidence in the viability of the proposed development and associated value available to be unlocked. With the feasibility study completion and the permitting process advancing, Magnetic is rapidly evolving to a position of being "shovel ready" for development.
The feasibility study released last year estimated an initial capital cost to build a mine of $375 million, and an average all-in sustaining cost of production of $1908 per ounce of gold.
This compares with the current price of gold in Australian dollars of $6902.28.
The mine was expected to have a life of nine years; however, that was calculated with a mineral reserve of just 997,300 ounces of gold.
Magnetic Resources shares were changing hands for $1.41, up 4.4% on Monday morning.
Magnetic Resources was worth $198.9 million at the close of trade on Friday.
