Astral’s 219g/t gold hit at Mandilla: pit optimisation and PFS notes for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan

First reported on Australian Mining
30 Second Briefing
Astral Resources has intersected 1m at 219g/t gold within the proposed Stage 1 open-pit shell at Theia, part of the Mandilla gold project 70km south of Kalgoorlie, from RC hole AMRCD374 with a diamond tail. The interval sits inside a broader 35m zone grading 7.09g/t from 181m downhole, including 5m at 29.9g/t, supporting higher-grade starter pit scheduling and potentially lower strip ratios. Results will feed into the Mandilla PFS mine design, pit optimisation and early cashflow modelling.
Technical Brief
- Intersections lie within the proposed Stage 1 open-pit footprint, directly informing initial pushback geometry.
- Locating high-grade mineralisation inside the pit shell reduces reliance on deeper, higher-strip ore sources.
- RC plus diamond configuration enables rapid coverage with targeted core in key high-grade zones.
- Early confirmation of internal high-grade zones typically supports smaller initial fleet and reduced pre-strip volumes.
- Similar WA gold projects have used such high-grade starter zones to shorten payback periods and de-risk funding.
Our Take
The new 219 g/t gold hit at Theia follows the July 2026 reverse circulation campaign at the same Mandilla gold project, suggesting Astral Resources is progressively tightening up a high‑grade core that could materially upgrade early pit shells for the proposed Stage 1 open pit.
With Mandilla near Kalgoorlie and Astral also drilling high‑grade targets at Wattle Dam in the Spargoville project (March 2026 article), the company is building a cluster of Western Australian gold assets that could share contractors, processing options and regional infrastructure.
Gold items form a significant subset of the 1280 Mining stories in our database, and Mandilla’s high‑grade intercepts place Astral Resources at the more speculative, exploration‑upside end of that gold coverage rather than in the established producer cohort around Kalgoorlie.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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