en.Wedoany.com Reported - Barton Gold Holdings has initiated a pre-feasibility study for the Tunkillia gold project in South Australia, a move seen as a key step in advancing plans for a large-scale gold mine development.

Engineering group GR Engineering Services has been appointed to lead the study. This appointment follows Barton's release of the 2025 optimized scoping study, which outlined robust project economics and rapid capital payback potential.

The pre-feasibility study will be based on an expanded drilling program aimed at upgrading and expanding the resource base of the project's key open-pit zones. Barton has completed the first phase of a large-scale reverse circulation drilling program totaling 18,900 meters, with a larger second phase currently underway. The second phase has been expanded to approximately 40,000 meters of reverse circulation drilling, supplemented by diamond drilling, targeting resource upgrades and new mineralization at the S1 and S2 starter pits, as well as extensions in Zone 51.

The overall program aims to increase confidence in the project's mineral resources, improve grade quality, and potentially expand the resource inventory in the final mining plan. According to the 2025 scoping study, Tunkillia could produce approximately 120,000 ounces of gold and 260,000 ounces of silver annually. The study also highlighted strong early-stage economic benefits, including substantial operating cash flows driven by high-grade starter pits in the first few years of production.

Barton Gold Managing Director Alexander Scanlon said the pre-feasibility study is an important step in advancing the project. "The Tunkillia optimized scoping study demonstrated the financial and capital leverage that a bulk processing operation can deliver, with robust economics driven by high-grade 'starter pits' indicating an operating profit of $1.75 billion in the first 2.5 years at current gold and silver prices," he said in a statement. The pre-feasibility study is currently expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2027.

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