en.Wedoany.com Reported - Southern Cross Gold plans to commence the underground exploration phase at the Sunday Creek gold-antimony project, located 60 kilometers north of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and has recently awarded an underground exploration decline contract to PYBAR Mining Services, a subsidiary of Thiess.

The contract scope includes portal excavation and support, portal establishment, main decline and supporting infrastructure installation, as well as an initial seven-month period of lateral development and diamond drill platform construction. The decline is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, at which point the number of drill rigs will increase from 11 surface rigs to 24 (including underground rigs), positioning the project to become one of the larger pre-development drilling programs globally.

Victoria's Department of Resources approved the project's work plan on November 27, 2025. Premier Jacinta Allan publicly expressed support, calling it a "critical minerals jobs opportunity" for the state. Southern Cross President and CEO Michael Hudson stated: "We have been building surface infrastructure and have obtained the secondary permits required to commence underground mining. With these in place, we are pleased to confirm the award of the decline contract to PYBAR." He added: "We have our contractor and operational leadership team in place and look forward to completing the decline by year-end and significantly increasing our drilling capacity."

The company also announced the appointments of Shane Leary as Project Manager (Operations) and Ben Edwards as Underground Development Manager. Southern Cross Gold is a gold exploration company with its primary assets located in Victoria.

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