Gold Rush 2025: Top gold sites to watch in Queensland

Prospects for increasing Queensland’s gold production bounty are peaking in line with record prices being paid for the precious metal last year that are expected to be carried over into 2025. Though that has yet to be translated into share price parity, the junior mining sector is rising to meet opportunities created by unsettled global forces. Ballyhoo at Ballymore Like its namesake home of Queensland Rugby, Ballymore Resources can point to a moment in history when one of its teams produced great performances. The Dittmer mine, located near Proserpine, was discovered in 1934 and became one of Australia's highest-grade gold producers. Between 1935 and 1951, the mine yielded over 54,000 ounces of gold, 23,400 ounces of silver, and 300 tonnes of copper, with an average mined grade of 151.1 g/t gold, 66.8 g/t silver, and 2.8 per cent copper. Drilling by Ballymore has recognised that the historically mined Duffer Lode has been displaced at depth, with a repetition recognised within 30m of the historical workings. Its results have included drill intersections of 4.3m at 29.0g/t gold, 11g/t silver and 0.81 per cent copper. Ballymore is undertaking major work programs to evaluate the broader area under a new geological model. Ballymore is also exploring at its Ravenswood project, Ruddygore project in the Chillagoe region and the Mount Molloy project. Consolidating projects south of Charters Towers GBM Resources’ Drummond Basin project south of Charters Tower has attracted the eye of some major investors. GBM has three key projects in the basin slightly south-east of Pajingo mine. Twin Hills sits below Yandan with Mount Coolon immediately east. Newmont’s wholly owned subsidiary Newcrest has a $25 million farm-in deal on the Mount Coolon deposit which has a ~300,000 oz gold resource. The deal would see Newmont acquire a 75 per cent interest in the project and would see funds committed on completion of a series of exploration milestones over about six years. The advent of Asian investment fund Wise Walkers would see GBM Resources further expand the resource, GBM managing director and chief executive officer Peter Rohner said. Wise Walkers stands to earn a 70 per cent joint venture interest in the Twin Hills gold project. The farm-in agreement constitutes a $6 million cash injection and $6 million over 18 months to fund further exploration. The Cape calls iQ asked junior gold miners which Queensland project they thought was the most prospective. The vast majority answeredPacgold. Late last year Pacgold launched an 800-hole drill program at its Alice River gold project located midway to the west coast of Cape York Peninsula from Cooktown. At the time, Pacgoldmanaging director Matthew Boyes said the 6000m program would help formulate an extensive regional-scale RC exploration campaign in the 2025 field season. It came off a successful September placement raising more than $4 million. Confidence is backed by historical records showing there were several underground mines up to 40m deep for over 3km which produced 3,000oz at 30g/t gold in the 1900s. In the late 1980s there was open pit mining to 40m, producing 30,000oz at 5.6g/t gold. The project carries eight granted mining leases. From the motherlode Carnaby Resources is one junior that is rated by analysts but under-rated by investors. Carnaby announced late last year that it was buying the Trekelano copper-gold project from Chinova Resources to add to its Greater Duchess development in North-West Queensland. At the same time, it has entered into a binding term sheet agreement with Glencore for tolling and offtake for 100 per cent of the fresh sulphide ore and concentrate from the project. Late last year, Carnaby completed a scoping study for the Greater Duchess project and a initiated maiden first-pass drilling program at the Pronuba prospect within its Greater Duchess project around 70km south-east of Mount Isa. The ground that keeps giving Sunshine Metals keeps surprising the market with its corporate quickstep. The junior shored up its Ravenswood Consolidated Project with the Liontown acquisition which added about 904,000oz gold equivalent to its resource. Sunshine Metals Managing Director Damien Keys has said that the move has put gold ahead of zinc as the dominant metal in the system. The Liontown zinc-gold resource is located 40km south-west of Charters Towers. At 904Koz at 4.0g/t AuEq, Dr Keys said the Ravenswood Consolidated Project compared favourably to other large-scale producers and pre-producers in north-east Queensland including Twin Hills (999koz Au at 1.3g/t Au), Pajingo (923koz Au at 5.8g/t Au) and Ravenswood Gold (5.92Moz Au at 0.7g/t Au). Sunshine acquired the Greater Liontown tenements (including the Liontown, Liontown East, Waterloo and Orient deposits) in September 2023 after former owner Cromarty Resources (a Red River Resources subsidiary) went into administration in 2022. Back to Central Queensland Central Queensland’s reputation as a gold region has been swamped by massive coal production in recent generations. However, a reminder of it’s past is there in the form of the sandstone buildings along the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton which were part of the social dividend from mining at Mount Morgan in the early 20th century. QMines has the Develin Project about 90km west of Rockhampton and the Mount Chalmers Project between the city and Yeppoon. The proposed Mount Chalmers copper and gold mining operation is supported by a maiden ore reserve of 9.5Mt (proved and probable) and 837,011 tonnes of potential mining material (inferred). A mineral resource estimate completed by consultant resource geologists HGMC in September 2023 determined a combined Develin Creek resource of 3.2Mt at 1.05 per cent copper, 1.22 per cent zinc, 0.17g/t gold and 5.9g/t silver, with 53 per cent classified as inferred. An updated mineral estimate is due to be released.

Gold Rush 2025: Top gold sites to watch in Queensland

Industry Queensland

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