Critical Resources has narrowed the search for a potentially significant New Zealand gold discovery after a string of arsenic-antimony-tungsten soil anomalies lit up its Stony Creek target within the Lammerlaw Gold Project, strengthening the geological case for an orogenic gold system beneath the surface.

Lammerlaw covers 410 square kilometres within New Zealand’s Central Otago Schist Belt, home to OceanaGold’s giant Macraes mine and one of the country’s most prolific gold provinces. The project is considered an untested analogue to the nearby Macraes-style gold systems. It remains undrilled. Rather than rushing to the drill rig, Critical is systematically using low-cost exploration to narrow the search and reduce geological uncertainty before committing to drill testing.

Building on earlier work that identified Stony Creek as one of Lammerlaw’s highest-priority exploration targets, the company collected 143 soil samples along a 5.4km transect to expand coverage across the prospect. The sampling density was designed to define exploration anomalies rather than establish the continuity of any mineralised trend.

Rather than identifying one isolated anomaly, the program highlighted multiple targets within the same structural corridor. These pathfinder elements are commonly used to vector exploration towards orogenic gold systems, giving the company several high-priority areas to refine before drilling.

‘The next steps will refine these areas into ranked targets and tell us which justify drill testing.’Critical Resources Limited managing director Tim Wither

Multiple arsenic-antimony-tungsten pathfinder anomalies were concentrated within an approximately 3.2km section, including a peak result of 238 parts per million (ppm) arsenic and 25ppm antimony. Supporting results included up to 31ppm antimony and 36ppm tungsten, while 10 of the 143 samples returned at least 30ppm arsenic.

The target area also hosts historic antimony workings, known tungsten anomalism, historical stream and rock sampling, and a previously identified airborne electromagnetic feature, giving Critical multiple independent geological, geochemical and geophysical datasets pointing to the same structural corridor.

Taken together, the results demonstrate the company’s disciplined, efficient and cost-effective exploration strategy is working.

Critical Resources Limited managing director Tim Wither said: “Soil geochemistry is the fastest and lowest-cost tool available for reducing a 410 square kilometre permit down to a short list of ground worth drilling, and that is what this program has done.”

While these results point towards a potential gold system, they are not gold assays. The company will now complete closer-spaced soil sampling around its strongest anomalies before carrying out detailed geological and structural mapping and rock-chip sampling.

It will also inspect the main anomalous corridor and the separate northern tungsten response for structures, alteration, quartz veining, sulphides, mineralised float and historic workings. Selected soil samples will then undergo accredited laboratory analysis to confirm the portable XRF analyses and test for gold and other elements before all geological, soil, rock-chip, LiDAR and geophysical data are integrated to build the clearest possible picture of the subsurface, rank the strongest drill targets and determine whether they warrant drill testing.

Today’s program also highlights the company’s broader exploration philosophy: screen large areas cheaply before focusing drilling where multiple independent datasets converge.

Across its 1,694-square-kilometre New Zealand portfolio, Critical is systematically narrowing hundreds of square kilometres of prospective ground into a shortlist of drill-ready targets.

Lammerlaw is the flagship of Critical’s 1,694-square-kilometre New Zealand exploration portfolio, which also includes the Croesus, Cap Burn–Rock and Pillar, and Silver Peaks/Tokomairiro projects. Previous rock-chip sampling at the Devils Creek target, about 13km east of Stony Creek within the same permit, has already demonstrated the project’s gold potential, returning assays of up to 5.42 grams per tonne (g/t) gold along an interpreted mineralised trend.

The hunt is still on for gold, but the associated antimony and tungsten are also becoming increasingly important. Both metals are strategic critical minerals used in defence, aerospace and electronics, while Western governments are seeking secure non-Chinese supply chains. Success at Lammerlaw could therefore provide Critical with exposure to multiple commodities rather than gold alone.

Today’s soil program has transformed a 410-square-kilometre search area into a handful of high-priority targets that now deserve the drill bit’s full attention. The gold is still out there, but the search area is now considerably smaller—and for an explorer, that’s exactly the kind of progress that matters.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au