Aureka kicks off infill drilling to help bring Comstock back to life

• St Arnaud Comstock has near-term production potential
• Previously mined pit and maiden JORC resource reported in 2025
• Studies underway to test the economics and support possible first production
• Infill diamond drilling has now commenced on Walkers pit area

Aureka (ASX: AKA) is examining the potential to fast-track development of the Comstock gold project in Victoria with a new diamond drilling campaign underway in the historic Walkers pit area.

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The infill drilling is part of studies testing the economics and supporting possible first production via the previously mined pit.

MD, James Gurry, said the objective of this drilling is to target continuity beneath Walkers pit and confirmation of historical drill hole data.

Successful drilling and assays would, assuming acceptable assay results, upgrade the JORC resource to higher classification to underpin production target statement and financial forecasts for the first production stage at Comstock.

“It is pleasing to see an exciting infill program now underway at Comstock where we reported multiple instances of visible and high-grade gold in 2025 particularly hole number two with 1.0m at 65.37 g/t gold from 116m that included 0.3m at 109 g/t and 0.4m at 65.4 g/t, plus more recently encouraging silver assays of up to 650 g/t.

“As we pursue the ambition of possible first portfolio production from Comstock, we look forward to seeing the outcomes of the concept and scoping studies underway.”

The six-week diamond drill program for approximately 1,000 metres consists of six short holes of average depth under 100m.

Exploration manager, Jozef Story, said the program has the dual objective of validating the data from historical drilling results, and increasing drill data density to, if successful, support a higher confidence level for sections of the 100% inferred JORC resource.

“The legacy drilling programs completed at Comstock returned some remarkable consistently high-grade gold assays,” he said.

“Infill and reaffirmation drilling is currently in progress targeting near pit surface mineralisation immediately beneath the Walkers sub-pit floor, and assuming success, presents a unique opportunity for Aureka to potentially reinvigorate the Comstock project via small scale production along the Walkers structure.”

The Comstock project is identified as a near term production opportunity due to its existing JORC resource located in an open pit last mined in 1995 and proximal to gold processing mills with spare capacity.

AKA is up 6.67% to 8.0¢. Mkt Cap. $11.86M.

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