Miramar Resources: A Kalgoorlie Gold Explorer Doubles Its Gidji Exploration Target
- Noel Ong
- 16 hours ago
- 11 min read
Miramar has more than doubled the conceptual gold Exploration Target at its Gidji JV Project, 15 km from Kalgoorlie, and flagged undrilled base-metal targets in the Gascoyne - genuine progress for a nano-cap explorer, tempered by how far an Exploration Target still sits from a mine.
Miramar Resources Limited (ASX: M2R) has delivered a significant increase to the Exploration Target at its 80%-owned Gidji JV Gold Project, located 15 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields.
Drawing on drilling across six shallow gold domains, the updated Target is a conceptual 6.19–7.56 million tonnes at 0.4–1.5 g/t for 124,871–325,125 ounces of contained gold - more than double the previous estimate.
The company also reported that a detailed gravity survey at its 100%-owned Chain Pool copper-lead-silver project in the Gascoyne had identified two undrilled gravity anomalies beneath high-grade rock chips, framing the target as a potential SEDEX base-metal system.
Both updates advance a two-pronged exploration story - greenstone-hosted gold near Kalgoorlie and a base-metals hunt in the Gascoyne - at a time when Australian-dollar gold remains historically high - near A$5,760 an ounce, well up on a year earlier, even after retreating from its record set in late January 2026 (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Gold Prices Jan 2025-Jul 2026
At a Glance
Items | Description |
Company | Miramar Resources Limited (ASX: M2R) — WA-focused mineral explorer, incorporated 2019, based in South Perth. Gold in the Eastern Goldfields; copper, base metals and Ni-Cu-PGE in the Gascoyne. |
Flagship | Gidji JV Gold Project (80%-owned; 20% Thunder Metals) — Archaean greenstone-hosted gold along ~15 km of the Boorara Shear Zone, 15 km north of Kalgoorlie. |
The news | Two updates in a week: a more-than-doubled Gidji gold Exploration Target (29 June) and a Chain Pool / Joy Helen gravity survey identifying undrilled Cu-Pb-Ag targets (25 June). |
Gidji Exploration Target | 6.19–7.56 Mt at 0.4–1.5 g/t for a conceptual 124,871–325,125 oz gold. A JORC Exploration Target — conceptual, with insufficient drilling to estimate a Mineral Resource. |
Why it matters | Outlines an existing-plus-potential gold endowment on Kalgoorlie's doorstep, supporting a pathway toward a maiden resource, a Mining Lease application and possible monetisation of shallow gold at record AUD gold prices. |
Chain Pool / Joy Helen | 100%-owned Gascoyne SEDEX target; gravity survey flagged two undrilled anomalies beneath high-grade rock chips — peak grab samples up to 14.7% Cu, 42% Pb and 73.5 g/t Ag (selective, non-representative). Auger assays due mid-July. |
Stage | Early-stage exploration. Resource geologist engaged for a maiden estimate; Mineralisation Report in preparation for a Mining Lease; first dedicated bedrock drilling planned at Chain Pool. |
Leadership | Marion Bush (Managing Director, ex-CEO Cassidy Gold); Allan Kelly (Executive Chairman & Technical Director, the Competent Person) — founder of Doray Minerals (Andy Well, Deflector). |
Market snapshot | Micro-cap; ~A$3–4.5m market cap; shares around a quarter of a cent; down ~40% over 12 months; a recent ~A$2.5m raise; a sub-12-month cash runway (indicative — confirm against the latest disclosures). |
Next steps | Maiden JORC resource estimate; Mining Lease application over the Gidji paleochannel; auger assays (mid-July) and bedrock drilling at Chain Pool. |
The 60-Second Pitch
Miramar Resources is a Western Australian mineral explorer with two geographic legs. In the Eastern Goldfields, near Kalgoorlie, it is hunting gold - led by the Gidji JV Project, alongside Glandore and Randalls
In the Gascoyne, it hosts a cluster of copper, base-metal, and Ni-Cu-PGE projects, including Chain Pool, Bangemall, Whaleshark, and Carnarvon Sands. The unifying thesis is that both regions host underexplored ground close to established mineral systems, and that systematic, low-cost exploration - aircore drilling, geophysics and geochemistry - can vector toward a discovery large enough for a re-rate (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Miramar Exploration Projects (Source: M2R ASX Announcement)
The investment case leans heavily on people and place. Technical Director and Executive Chairman Allan Kelly is a credentialed discovery geologist who founded Doray Minerals and took the Andy Well and Deflector gold projects from discovery through to production - the kind of track record that matters in exploration, where execution and target selection separate winners from the field. Managing Director Marion Bush brings corporate and West African gold experience.
The place is equally central: Gidji sits 15 km from one of the world's great gold districts, surrounded by mines and processing plants.
Gidji JV: The Exploration Target Doubles
The headline is a materially larger conceptual gold inventory at Gidji. The updated Exploration Target spans six domains - Roaster, Marylebone, Powerline, Blackfriars, Highway and Railway - for a total of 6.19–7.56 million tonnes grading 0.4–1.5 g/t, containing an estimated 124,871–325,125 ounces of gold (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Gidji JV Project showing drill intersections and Exploration Target domains (Source: M2R ASX Announcement)
This more than doubles the previous Target, which covered only the Marylebone area, with the increase driven by recent aircore drilling that has extended shallow supergene and paleochannel gold at Powerline, Blackfriars and Highway.
The estimate draws on a substantial dataset - 939 aircore holes (53,362 m), 26 RC holes (4,007 m) and one diamond hole - interpreting the mineralisation as a single, sub-horizontal unit at an average vertical depth of around 48 m.
Table 1: Gidji JV Exploration Target
Domain | Tonnage (t) | Grade (g/t) | Contained Gold (oz) |
Roaster | 192,850–235,706 | 0.4–0.7 | 2,480–5,305 |
Marylebone | 1,033,983–1,263,757 | 0.7–1.5 | 23,273–60,953 |
Powerline | 1,276,270–1,559,886 | 0.7–1.5 | 28,726–75,236 |
Blackfriars | 1,186,497–1,450,162 | 0.5–1.0 | 19,076–46,629 |
Highway | 2,246,337–2,745,523 | 0.7–1.5 | 50,561–132,421 |
Railway | 251,583–307,490 | 0.4–1.0 | 3,236–9,887 |
TOTAL | 6,187,520–7,562,525 | — | 124,871–325,125 |
The strategic appeal is location. Gidji lies directly on the Goldfields Highway, within trucking distance of multiple operating mills, and Northern Star Resources is progressing the neighbouring 8 Mile Dam project abutting Miramar's southern boundary.
That infrastructure, combined with record Australian-dollar gold prices, is what underpins management's argument that the shallow gold already defined could be monetised -potentially via toll treatment - while deeper drilling tests the larger prize. Miramar's stated longer-term aim is to find one or more primary bedrock gold deposits beneath the supergene blanket, supported by extensive end-of-hole pathfinder anomalism and untested ground outside the Gidji paleochannel.
Two qualifications belong next to the headline. First, and most important, this is an Exploration Target, not a Mineral Resource: the company's own cautionary statement notes the tonnage and grade are conceptual, that there has been insufficient drilling to define a resource, and that it is uncertain whether further drilling will convert the Target into a JORC-compliant resource.
Second, the numbers rest on a theoretical bulk density of 2.3 g/cm³ - no specific gravity measurements have been taken - and on modest supergene grades of 0.4–1.5 g/t. The path forward is defined: a resource geologist has been engaged to attempt a maiden estimate, the company is preparing a Mineralisation Report to support a Mining Lease application over the paleochannel, and it reports early-stage discussions with potential development partners.
Chain Pool: A Gascoyne Base-Metals Hunt
The second update concerns Chain Pool, a 100%-owned exploration licence roughly 275 km northeast of Carnarvon in the Gascoyne, and its Joy Helen copper-lead-silver prospect. A detailed gravity survey on a 50 m × 50 m grid identified two residual gravity anomalies east of the historic workings that have never been drill-tested
Miramar interprets the wider Joy Helen system as a possible Sedimentary Exhalative (SEDEX) target — the deposit class that includes giants such as Sullivan, Mount Isa, HYC and Red Dog — hosted in carbonate rocks against a major growth fault at the edge of the Edmund Basin, with a zoned carbonate alteration halo consistent with that model.
SEDEX systems are the world’s most important source of lead and zinc and rank among the largest, richest orebodies on earth.
Figure 4. Joy Helen prospect showing gravity anomalies (yellow outlines) in relation to high-grade CuPb-Ag mineralisation and auger drilling (yellow dots) (Source: ASX Announcement)
The grades quoted are genuinely eye-catching: grab samples close to the anomalies returned up to 5.5% Cu, 42% Pb and 73.5 g/t Ag from the southern anomaly and up to 14.7% Cu, 26.7% Pb and 67 g/t Ag from the northern anomaly (Figure 4).
The essential caveat is that these are selective grab samples — rock chips chosen from surface exposures and historic workings — which indicate the presence of high-grade mineralisation but are not representative of any grade, tonnage or continuity at depth.
The anomalies themselves are undrilled; exploration across the ground has been minimal since shallow holes in the 1960s, and the SEDEX interpretation, while geologically reasonable, remains a model rather than a discovery. Auger drilling results are expected by mid-July, after which the company plans further geophysics and its first dedicated bedrock drilling campaign — the tests that would begin to convert an encouraging target into something measurable.
Management Commentary
Managing Director Marion Bush framed the Gidji update as a milestone toward development. She said the revised estimate, based on actual drilling and assay data, had:
“more than doubled the gold Exploration Target at Gidji,”
There exists further potential in areas that have seen little or no deep drilling, giving the company reason to believe a maiden mineral resource estimate is achievable. Bush emphasised the project's setting — close to the Kalgoorlie mining hub and adjacent to the Goldfields Highway — as opening:
“Multiple options to monetise the gold we have found to date, especially at the current gold price,”
While noting that the longer-term aim remains one or more large bedrock deposits, with Northern Star advancing the adjoining 8 Mile Dam project.
On Chain Pool, Technical Director Allan Kelly set out the SEDEX thesis directly, describing Joy Helen as hosted in carbonate rocks adjacent to a major growth fault:
“with the same zoned carbonate alteration halo with increasing base metal values towards the proximal siderite zone as seen in the typical SEDEX model.”
He characterised the newly identified gravity anomalies as new, undrilled and close to high-grade samples, which in his view “makes them particularly exciting targets,” with the company keenly awaiting auger assays before progressing to a first deeper bedrock drilling campaign. Management's stated belief is that the Joy Helen occurrence could be “the tip of the iceberg” of a larger SEDEX system - an aspiration, at this stage, rather than a defined result.
Concluding Comments
The Miramar story is all about genuine mineral exploration. A small market capitalisation and offering the hope of discovery to move the valuation needle is what investing in Miramar Resources is all about in 2026.
Doubling the Gidji Exploration Target is progress, and the project's position15 km from Kalgoorlie, on the Goldfields Highway, beside Northern Star's 8 Mile Dam and surrounded by mills is the intrinsic value at a time when Australian-dollar gold is near record highs.
A defined pathway toward a maiden resource and a Mining Lease, a credible discovery geologist in Allan Kelly, and the additional optionality of a high-grade SEDEX target in the Gascoyne together give a very small company several ways to create value.
Investors reading this should not be tempted to read potential as proof. Samso cannot stress enough that an Exploration Target is not a resource. Grab samples are not an orebody and undrilled anomalies are not a discovery. The other notable caution is to be reminded that Miramar is a nano-cap with a sub-12-month cash runway and a history of heavy dilution, which means the journey from these announcements to any monetisation runs directly through further capital raisings that will test existing shareholders.
Like all things in life, the Ying and Yang of the story is the balance. The balance is that the unexpected, the unexplored, the potential of discovery is what makes Miramar Resources the company to have on your watchlist or in your potential "multi-bagger" investment. THe uncertainty and the recent "bad" news of failure is why the market capitalisation of Miramar Resources low and hence attractive for multi bags of valuation.
Hence, the reality is still that the ingredients - location, operator, commodity prices - are attractive, and the exploration logic is sound. But the gap between a doubled Exploration Target and a mine is long, expensive and uncertain, and at this valuation the market is pricing that gap honestly. At the end of the day, the opportunity and the risk are, for now, two sides of the same early-stage coin.
Personally, I have always liked the potential of Gidji and the discovery of a SEDEX mineralisation is rewarding. Only time will tell and fortunately, the market is still full of optimism as it has been in the three decades of my involvement in this industry.
About Miramar Resources Limited
Miramar Resources Limited (ASX: M2R) is a Western Australia–focused mineral exploration company searching for gold, copper and nickel-copper-PGE deposits across two of the state's most prospective regions: the Eastern Goldfields and the Gascoyne.
The portfolio spans eight projects across the two regions. In the Eastern Goldfields, the anchor asset is the 80%-owned Gidji JV Gold Project, located roughly 15km north of Kalgoorlie, where recent reverse-circulation drilling has returned shallow, high-grade gold.
In the Gascoyne, Miramar holds a cluster of base- and battery-metals projects, including the 100%-owned Whaleshark copper-gold (IOCG) project near Onslow, the Chain Pool copper-lead-silver (SEDEX) project, the Bangemall Ni-Cu-PGE project, Carnarvon Sands, and the recently optioned South Ashburton project.
The company continues to actively manage its portfolio, recently completing the sale of its Randalls Project to Ore Resources Limited (ASX: OR3) in April 2026 as part of an ongoing strategy to rationalise its Eastern Goldfields ground and concentrate capital on its highest-priority targets.
The Samso Way – Seek the Research
Here at Samso, we pride ourselves on delivering content for investors that is independent and informed by over three decades of experience in the industry. Our content is well-researched and is only created if I see merit in discussing the company's story.
Our mission is simple: cut through the noise and spotlight what matters—genuine stories, grounded insights, and real opportunity.
Our content is well-researched and is only created if the team sees merit in discussing the company or concept. Investors can explore our three core platforms:
There may be numerous paths to success in investing, but the common thread among successful individuals is that they remain committed to making informed decisions. Equip yourself with the right knowledge and tools, and you will be well on your way to achieving your financial goals.
Most importantly, investors need to be absolutely diligent in understanding their own risk-reward tolerance and capabilities. Never bite off more than you can chew. As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the Great Wall stood because it took centuries to complete.
The Samso Philosophy:
Stay curious. Stay sharp. And remember—digging deeper always uncovers the real value.
In Life, there is no such thing as a Free Lunch.
Never bite off more than you can chew is my parting comment.
Happy Investing, and the only four-letter word you need to know is DYOR.
To support our independent nature of our work, please head over to our Support Page and give us a helping hand in any of the ways listed. This is a new initiative for the Samso Platform, and it was always the concept of Samso when we started this journey in 2018.
Disclaimer
The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer, or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase, or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints.
Share to Grow: Your Bonus
Samso has just released an eBook: How to Add Value to your Share Portfolio
|A lesson on geological models sought by mining companies that gives insight and an understanding of which portfolios are better - and potentially more lucrative – investments. Click here to download this eBook.|
If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information. I try to write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value. It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation sees the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and has a need to share your journey, please contact me at noel.ong@samso.com.au.
Samso is a trusted platform that equips dedicated investors with up-to-date industry knowledge and insigh0ts from top CEOs and thought leaders. By staying informed on business advancements and market trends, investors can enhance their financial decisions through a combination of expert guidance and their own research.
Samso News | www.samso.com.au | An Investor Lens on ASX-Listed Companies
Comments