Rox Youanmi expansion potential: mine design and geotechnical notes for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on Australian Mining
30 Second Briefing
Rox Resources has reported high-grade underground diamond drilling results at the United North lode of the Youanmi gold project in Western Australia, including 4.6m at 9.6g/t gold from 131.58m, indicating mineralisation extending beyond the current definitive feasibility study mine plan. The intercepts sit outside existing stoping shapes, suggesting scope to add new high-grade blocks to the planned underground inventory and potentially lift mine life or production rates. Geotechnical and mine design teams will need to reassess stope layouts, ground support and access development to incorporate the emerging extensions.
Technical Brief
- Assays reported are among the first from a new underground drilling campaign targeting lode extensions.
- DFS mine planning will need to reconcile new intercepts with current scheduling and ventilation designs.
- Additional drilling from underground platforms allows tighter pierce-point spacing than previous surface programmes.
- Any expanded stoping in United North will require updated geotechnical domains and revised ground support patterns.
- Similar brownfields underground gold projects in WA have used such step-out drilling to justify DFS addenda.
Our Take
Our database shows a steady drumbeat of Youanmi updates through 2026 – from dewatering in May to final works approval and a $350 million funding package – so new high-grade hits at United North are landing after the development case is largely locked in, implying upside rather than dependency for the project’s economics.
The standout 4.6m at 9.6g/t from around 130m depth at United North aligns with earlier reports of mineralisation outside the definitive feasibility study mine plan, suggesting Rox Resources may be able to sequence additional underground ounces into later mine phases without materially delaying first production.
Among Western Australian gold ‘Projects’ pieces in our coverage, Youanmi is one of the few with both full construction funding secured and ongoing step-out drilling success, which is likely to give Rox more flexibility in optimising plant size and mine life trade-offs than peers still constrained by tighter capital envelopes.
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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