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As gold hovers above A$6000 an ounce – nearly double the base case – Munda has blown the doors off those initial assumptions. The first 2355 ounces have already outperformed the early estimates by a country mile. With another 4391 ounces still lining up for processing, the cash registers aren’t just ringing – they’re warming up for an encore.
Auric Resources managing director Mark English said: “The ongoing buoyant gold market is working hugely in our favour as we continue selling the gold from our Munda Starter Pit. It’s a huge close to the year for Auric. Adding in the next stage 65,000 tonne parcel already booked for processing at the Lakewood Mill in early 2026 will set the platform for another excellent year.”
With the Starter Pit campaign now complete, Auric is shifting its sights to a bigger brother lurking beneath - the Munda Main Pit. Detailed planning and early-stage scoping are pencilled in for the first quarter of 2026, with the early numbers appearing to really stack up well.
At 3.65 million tonnes going 1.23 grams per tonne for 145,000 ounces at a 0.5 grams per tonne (g/t) cut-off, Auric’s Munda Main Pit already looks like it will be a tidy little money-maker. Loosen that cut-off to 0.2g/t and the resource swells to 189,000 ounces across the indicated and inferred categories – a clear sign the system still carries plenty of punch.
When Kalgoorlie-based Minecomp ran the ruler over Munda back in 2023 it used what now looks like a stone-age gold price assumption of just A$2600 an ounce. Its scoping study modelled a production profile of 1.716 million tonnes at 2.2g/t - enough to crank out a thumping A$76.9 million in undiscounted surplus cashflows.
However, fast-forward to today’s record-breaking gold market and those old numbers suddenly look like the warm-up act.
The company has also been busy closing out deals across the Goldfields region to expand its exploration footprint.
Back in February, it forked out $475,000 for the Loded Dog tenements – a package brimming with both brownfields and greenfields potential.
The ground sits among proven performers, including the former Avoca-owned Trident underground deposit which mined a million ounces at a cracking 4.4 grams per tonne. Auric’s leases are also just up the road from Westgold’s Beta Hunt–Higginsville complex, which holds 2.8 million ounces Against that backdrop, Loded Dog looks like a low-cost gateway to a very high-value hunting ground.
Elsewhere, Auric has confirmed it is moving ahead on a deal for $4 million in cash and shares to secure the Lindsay’s gold project near Kalgoorlie.
Lindsay’s comes replete with ready-made upside. The Parrot Feathers open pit, partially mined for 6153 ounces before the 2013 gold slump forced operator KalNorth to walk away, still has 75 per cent of its resource waiting to be dug out.
Backing up its dash for new gold grounds, Auric recently put its foot on the Burbanks gold Mill just south of Coolgardie for a bargain basement price of $4.4 million.
The deal hands Auric the keys to a fully permitted, 180,000-tonne-per-annum carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant complete with crushing and grinding circuits.
The facility has been on ice since 2019, but Auric is now running technical studies to scope out whether a refurbishment or full rebuild will deliver the biggest bang for its buck.
Taken together, these moves paint a clear picture of a growing gold company on a mission to build a long-term production pipeline and set up the processing muscle needed to stay in control of its own destiny.
For now though, the scoreboard at Munda tells the story. Three gold pours. 2,355 ounces sold. $14.6 million in gross revenue. And a second, larger campaign about to fire. It’s a powerful way to finish 2025 – and an even better way to start 2026.
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