Australian gold and antimony junior Southern Cross Gold Consolidated says its Sunday Creek project in Victoria is set to host “one of the largest pre-development drill-outs globally” after it engaged Thiess subsidiary Pybar to develop its proposed A$30 million exploration decline.
Southern Cross, dual-listed in Australia and Canada and with a current market capitalisation north of C$2.3 billion, has approvals and seemingly high-level political encouragement to move forward quickly at Sunday Creek, only about 60km north of Melbourne in the Garden State. Premier Jacinta Allan’s office has said approval of exploration works at one of the state’s most significant gold and antimony deposits supported jobs growth in rural Victoria.
Southern Cross has outlined a Sunday Creek exploration target of 2.2-to-3.2 million ounces gold-equivalent at 0.8-0.9% antimony and 6.4-8.3 grams per tonne gold. Getting the decline finished by the end of 2026 will enable it to more than double the number of drill rigs active at the site.
“The decline is fundamentally about accelerating drilling,” Southern Cross CEO Michael Hudson said.
“Underground platforms 115m beneath surface scale us from the 11 surface rigs operating today to 24 rigs working concurrently from underground positions, positioning Sunday Creek as one of the largest pre-development drill-outs globally.”
The company has also appointed experienced industry leaders Shane Leary and Ben Edwards as projects and underground development manager, respectively. Leary, founder of consultancy DAS Mining Solutions, has spent more than 25 years in project management, civil construction and mine development.
Edwards was most recently development superintendent at BHP’s Carrapateena underground copper mine in South Australia.
Sunday Creek is getting a 5.5m-wide, 6m-high decline down to an initial 115m depth, plus 1200m of lateral development to create drill platforms.
“With the PYBAR contract awarded and Shane Leary and Ben Edwards onboard we have the contractor and the operational leadership in place to look forward to year-end decline completion and significant increased drilling capacity for this exciting gold and antimony discovery,” Hudson said.
He said Pybar won its tender in a competitive Australian underground mine contractor market based on its technical capability, safety record, delivery schedule and price.
Southern Cross had A$133 million in the bank at the end of March this year.
