Alice Queen is getting the drill spinning for the first time since 2022 at its Horn Island gold project in the Torres Strait.

The company said drill pads had been prepared for the imminent start of a multi-phase program, using a dual-purpose, track-mounted rig capable of reverse circulation and diamond core drilling.

It comes after Alice Queen’s June announcement that a project definition study showed it would cost $126 million to bring the Horn Island gold project online, and the operation should deliver EBITDA of $1.3 billion over the life of the mine.

And in May, Alice Queen reported an exploration target that backed the conceptual potential for a large-scale gold system at the project.

Multiple styles of mineralisation were identified including hard rock vein-hosted gold, stockpiles and tailings as well as potential alluvial systems.

The hard rock areas carry a conceptual exploration target of 34.6 to 52.0Mt at 0.88 to 1.32g/t gold for 1.22 to 1.83Moz gold.

The stockpiles, tailings and alluvial domains carry a conceptual exploration target of 25.1 to 37.6Mt at 0.31 to 0.46 g/t gold for 0.31 to 0.46Moz gold.

These domains sit outside the company’s existing (JORC 2012) mineral resource of 21.1Mt at 0.84g/t gold for 569,000oz gold.

Related: ‘Compelling economics’ for Horn Island gold restart

Alice Queen (ASX: AQX) managing director Andrew Buxton described the start of the new drilling campaign as a significant moment for the company.

“With the rig now mobilised, we are ready to begin a program aimed at growing the Horn Island resource and investigating new areas of our project tenure,” he said.

“This drilling runs in parallel with our development work, coming soon after releasing the project definition study and as we progress towards delivering the pre-feasibility study.

“Horn Island holds considerable potential and, in the current strong gold price environment, there’s no better time to be drilling to realise it.”

The drill program will target further mineralisation along an interpreted north-west structural trend extending from the current resource, down-dip extensions to the south, shallow zones across the north-east and evaluate high-grade continuity within the current mineral resource area and in potential extension zones.

Below: Horn Island project exploration target estimate domains including hard rock domains, legacy stockpiles and tailings, and alluvial zones.