Auravelle Metals strikes gold in first past drilling at Sheoak East as it hunts the next big South Australian gold deposit

• Auravelle regional drilling hits gold at Sheoak East with 4m at 1.2g/t from just 40m down
• New target sits in 3km gold in soils anomaly within massive Yarlbrinda Shear Zone
• Sheoak East now a high-priority target for follow-up exploration at the Nuckulla Hill project

Special Report: Regional drilling by Auravelle Metals at its Nuckulla Hill gold project in South Australia has identified a new high-priority gold target at the Sheoak East prospect.

Historical aircore drilling at Sheoak East had already defined gold anomalism over at least 400m of strike that remains open to the northeast and southwest.This is part of a roughly 3km long gold anomaly in historical soil sampling.

Auravelle Metals’ (ASX:AUV) recent program is the first follow-up of this anomalism with the its first drill program returning 4m grading 1.2g/t gold from a down-hole depth of 36m.

Meanwhile, at the Sheoak prospect, which had recent drill hits of 6m @ 8g/t Au, and is about 2km away, reverse circulation drilling is due to begin soon to infill and extend gold mineralisation.

“Auravelle’s first regional drilling at the Sheoak East prospect within the Nuckulla Hill project has intersected significant shallow gold mineralisation beneath historical aircore drilling,” AUV managing director Andrew Muir said.

“This opens up an exciting new discovery opportunity alongside what is already a significant high-grade gold system at Sheoak itself.

“Sheoak East will now be a priority follow-up target for additional drilling, given the extent of gold anomalism, its association with shearing, and the complete absence of deeper drilling.”

He added that both rounds of drilling at Nuckulla Hill since its acquisition in early 2025, returning high grades at Sheoak, extending Sheoak to the north, and now identifying a new gold target at Sheoak East.

“Both prospects are hosted within the large-scale Yarlbrinda Shear Zone, which also hosts the nearby 1.6Moz Tunkillia gold project,” Muir noted.

“We believe Nuckulla Hill has potential to host significant gold mineralisation, making this a priority drilling focus for us to follow up on these results and test new areas.”

Nuckulla Hill targets

Regional drilling at Nuckulla Hill tested both the Sheoak East and Sheoak North prospects.

Sheoak East is 2km northeast of Sheoak and is situated within the Yarlbrinda Shear.

It is defined by a circa 3km long gold-in-soil anomaly from historical soil sampling by Doray Minerals.

Follow-up aircore drilling by Doray identified gold anomalism over +400m of strike in a northeast-southwest orientation that is open in both directions and sitting parallel to an interpreted shear zone.

Country rocks and shearing are broadly similar to that seen at Sheoak.

AUV completed five aircore holes for 233m and one RC hole for 94m at Sheoak East to follow up on the gold anomalism as well as test interpreted strike extensions.

This first pass sampling intersected mineralisation in two holes.

Next steps

AUV is continuing its aggressive program of groundwork and exploration activity, with significant ongoing news-flow and activities for its key gold projects.

At Sheoak, the company will carry out follow-up RC drilling and on other prospects at Nuckulla Hill this month.

The company is also expecting results from aircore drilling at the Crown gold project in late November or early December.

In December, it expects to receive results from the large soil sampling program at Nuckulla Hill and Tunkillia North.

This article was developed in collaboration with Auravelle Metals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.