On August 21st, Hanking Gold International Limited (“Hanking Gold” or the “Company”; 03788.HK) is pleased to announce the results of a reverse circulation (the “RC”) drilling programme completed over the historical waste dump at the Rustlers Roost gold deposit, part of the Company’s 100% owned Mt Bundy Gold Project in the Northern Territory of Australia. The programme comprised 41 RC holes totalling 960 metres and covered the entire waste dump footprint. The drilling confirmed that gold mineralisation is present throughout the waste dump.
Between June 1994 and March 1998, Rustlers Roost was mined as a shallow open pit, which treated the oxide ore through a heap leach operation. Based on the gold prices and heap leach recoveries applicable in the 1990s, the operating cut-off grade at Rustlers Roost was approximately 0.8 g/t Au, and any material grading below that threshold was classified as waste and placed on the waste dump. Based on the Company’s site survey and preliminary calculations, the waste dump is estimated to contain approximately 10 million tonnes of oxidised material.
The 2026 waste dump drilling programme adopted the reverse circulation (RC) method. A total of 41 vertical RC holes (STPRC070 to STPRC110) were drilled to an average depth of 960 metres (24 metres average hole depth) on a regular 50-metre grid designed to cover the whole of the waste dump footprint, with each hole drilled through the full thickness of the waste dump and into the underlying natural surface. The material consists of oxidised waste rock and low-grade material that has already been mined and broken. The DFS metallurgical recovery for oxide and transitional ore is approximately 90%, and the DFS Rustlers Roost Ore Reserve cut-off grade is 0.22 g/t Au.
Gold mineralisation was intersected from the surface in most holes and continued through the full thickness of the waste dump, with individual intercepts of up to 35 metres. Specific intercepts included: STPRC070, 12 m at 0.69 g/t Au from 0 m; STPRC071, 7 m at 0.65 g/t Au from 0 m; STPRC073, 8 m at 0.82 g/t Au from 7 m; STPRC075, 9 m at 0.47 g/t Au from 3 m; STPRC076, 10 m at 0.51 g/t Au from 3 m; STPRC078, 7 m at 0.57 g/t Au from 24 m; STPRC083, 18 m at 0.41 g/t Au from 0 m; STPRC085, 16 m at 0.69 g/t Au from 0 m; STPRC086, 17 m at 0.56 g/t Au from 0 m; STPRC087, 15 m at 0.56 g/t Au from 0 m; STPRC093, 18 m at 0.48 g/t Au from 0 m; STPRC098, 8 m at 0.47 g/t Au from 0 m; STPRC100, 27 m at 0.43 g/t Au from 1 m; STPRC109, 19 m at 0.41 g/t Au from 10 m; and STPRC110, 35 m at 0.47 g/t Au from 0 m. As the holes are vertical and the waste dump material is unconsolidated, down-hole length approximates true thickness. Because the waste dump was built entirely from material mined out of the shallow oxide pit, all of the dump material is oxidised. Leach testwork completed for the proposed Rustlers Roost processing plant in the DFS returned an average overall gold recovery of 91.2% for Rustlers Roost oxide and transitional composites, with low reagent consumption.
The Company has designed a follow-up RC drilling programme of approximately 10,000 metres over the waste dump. The programme is designed at a drill spacing sufficient to support the estimation of a maiden Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve for the waste dump area in accordance with the JORC Code. The programme is scheduled to commence in mid-September 2026. Further announcements will be made as results become available.
Commenting on the latest drilling results, Dr Qiu Yumin, an executive director, the chief executive officer and president of the Company, said that: “What was waste in 1997 is ore today. The previous operators were constrained by a heap leach method recovering only 70% of the gold and by a much lower gold price. With a modern CIL plant designed to recover more than 90% of the gold for the oxidised ore and a cut-off grade of 0.22 grams per tonne estimated at AUD 3,750 per ounce in our DFS, that same material now looks very different to us. Results from the initial drilling program, with a 50x50m grid over 10 million tons of material, are very encouraging. Once converted into a JORC Code gold resource and ore reserve through our upcoming 10,000-meter drilling program, this low-cost, ready-for-processing material can be scheduled into production and provides flexibility for the ramp-up and operation of the 5.5 Mtpa processing plant under construction. This material is expected to create substantial extra value for the Company’s shareholders and local economy.”