en.Wedoany.com Reported - Australian exploration company Aureka (ASX:AKA) has identified the Walkers Pit at the St Arnaud Comstock gold-silver project in Victoria as the preferred path to restart production at the mine, following the completion of a preliminary concept study by geological and engineering consultancy firms Measured Group and Minserve.
The Walkers Pit is considered a low-capital-cost potential path to restart the site due to its existing open pit and in-situ near-surface mineralization. The study was also supported by input from the nearby Wedderburn processing plant and Core Prospecting, operator of the Fiddlers Creek gold mine. The road and ramp access to the Walkers Pit has been in intermittent use since it was last utilized in the late 1990s. Existing infrastructure contributed to a "moderate" upfront capital estimate, indicating that the required capital primarily involves site setup and site management costs, rather than large-scale earthworks and mine pre-development. This study is classified as a conceptual study and cannot be equated with a JORC-compliant scoping study, pre-feasibility study, or feasibility study.
Following the identification of the Walkers Pit as the preferred location, Aureka has submitted a small-scale mining (prospecting) license application. The company is advancing an infill diamond drilling program at the pit, with mineralization types including gold-bearing shear quartz veins and stockwork zones. Historical intercept data includes: a 14-meter interval from 18 meters depth grading 7.2 grams per tonne gold; and a 2.2-meter interval from 63.2 meters depth grading 27.4 grams per tonne gold.
Aureka Managing Director James Gurry stated that the Walkers Pit area is entirely within a "previously disturbed footprint," which is a positive signal for the company as it advances this area as an ideal path to restart the Comstock project. He noted that submitting the first production license application is a milestone and looks forward to working with stakeholders in the coming weeks to advance this small-scale, low-disturbance permitting process. Gurry also mentioned that the company looks forward to seeing progress from the ongoing infill diamond drilling at the Comstock project, and if results support it, these results along with 2025 drilling data may be incorporated into a potential update of the initial mineral resource for the Comstock gold-silver project in the second half of 2026. Gurry pointed out that this production license application is another key milestone for Aureka, closely following the recent upgrade of JORC-standard resources to 455,000 ounces. Regarding the infill diamond drilling within the Walkers Pit, he stated that the plan is proceeding on schedule, and while assay results are not yet available, geological structures and features consistent with the Comstock model have been observed.
