The Conversation (0)
Great Boulder Resources (“Great Boulder” or the “Company”) (ASX: GBR) is pleased to provide an update on exploration at the Company’s flagship Side Well Gold Project (“Side Well”) near Meekatharra in Western Australia which hosts a Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) of 668,000oz @ 2.8 g/t Au.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Reverse circulation (RC) at Mulga Bill has intersected more extremely high gold grades, extending the resource and adding thickness and grade to existing lodes
- Highlights include:
- 5m @ 43.13/t Au from 185m, including 2m @ 102.80/t Au from 186m in 24MBRC028
- 5m @ 40.61g/t Au from 256m, including 1m @ 194.50g/t Au from 258m in 24MBRC030
- 6m @ 20.52g/t Au from 179m, including 2m @ 57.10g/t Au from 179m in 24MBRC027
- 5m @ 16.93g/t Au from 91m, including 2m @ 39.70g/t Au from 92m in 24MBRC023
- Maiden AC drilling to commence imminently on the high priority Side Well South Prospect
Great Boulder’s Managing Director, Andrew Paterson commented:
“These are sensational new intersections at Mulga Bill. The holes were designed to add definition within areas of inferred resource and they have done so in emphatic style, with intersections that are both thicker and higher grade than previously estimated.”
“Equally impressive is the deep result in hole 24MBRC030 which is well outside the resource, down- dip and further north than previous drilling in that area.”
“After several rounds of drilling at Mulga Bill the high-grade lode positions fit our interpretation perfectly, which means we have very high confidence in the validity of this resource model. The drilling has added high-grade intersections up-dip from previous holes on several sections within the resource, which should add gold ounces closer to surface than the current estimate. This will be important for potential mine economics when we start scoping studies.”
Nine RC holes were drilled at Mulga Bill for a total of 1,587m. The program was designed to test poorly defined areas around the edges of the Mulga Bill high-grade vein positions as part of the process to upgrade less-drilled parts of the resource from inferred to indicated category. Highlights from the drilling include:
- 5m @ 43.13g/t Au from 185m, including 2m @ 102.80g/t Au from 186m in 24MBRC028.
- This sits within a Cervelo Lode vein, up-dip to the east from previous drilling.
- 5m @ 40.61g/t Au from 256m, including 1m @ 194.50g/t from 258m in 24MBRC030.
- This HGV lode was previously insufficiently drilled to be classified in the resource; it will now be added to the resource estimate and extends the Cervelo Lodes by approximately 30m to the north.
- 6m @ 20.52g/t Au from 179m, including 2m @ 57.10g/t Au from 179m in 24MBRC027.
- This sits within a Cervelo Lode vein, up-dip to the east from previous drilling.
- 5m @ 16.93g/t Au from 91m, including 2m @ 39.70g/t Au from 92m in 24MBRCD023.
- This sits within a Cervelo Lode vein, up-dip to the east from previous drilling. The intersection contains supergene mineralisation.
- 10m @ 7.92g/t Au from 82m, including 4m @ 18.83g/t Au from 85m in 24MBRC022.
- This sits within a Cervelo Lode vein, up-dip to the east from previous drilling. The intersection also contains supergene mineralisation.
- 2m @ 6.18g/t Au from 90m in 24MBRC025.
Figure 1: Mulga Bill long section looking west
The mineralised wireframes at Mulga Bill will be updated and extended to incorporate the new intersections in preparation for a resource update which will be completed towards the end of the year.
Figure 2: Plan view of the north end of Mulga Bill
Next Steps
The RC rig is currently drilling the final resource definition RC holes at Mulga Bill, after which reconnaissance AC drilling will commence on exciting new targets at Side Well South.
Click here for the full ASX Release
This article includes content from Great Boulder Resources licensed for the purpose of publishing on Investing News Australia. This article does not constitute financial product advice. It is your responsibility to perform proper due diligence before acting upon any information provided here. Please refer to our full disclaimer here.
GBR:AU
Navigating Uncertainty: How Trump's Tariffs Are Affecting the Gold Market
Read on to learn how tariffs have affected the gold market and price so far.
How have tariffs affected the gold price?
The gold price has been on the rise since the beginning of the year. After briefly touching the US$3,500 per ounce level in May, it has pulled back and was trading just under US$3,400 as of Tuesday (August 26).
Gold price, January 1 to August 26, 2025.
Chart via TradingEconomics.
Although some of its increase is attributable to the points mentioned above, a significant portion is owed to a lack of information surrounding US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
Initially there was no clarity on what or who was being tariffed, or when the levies would ultimately be implemented, and investors started to move into gold for greater stability and portfolio diversification.
Uncertainty about whether gold would be tariffed also had an effect, prompting traders in the US to import physical gold; this created a price differential between New York futures and the London spot price.
Concerns dissipated as the Trump administration began to nail down tariffs, but were reignited once again when US Customs and Border Patrol posted a ruling on July 31 indicating that the 39 percent tariffs against imports from Switzerland would include 1 kilogram and 100 ounce gold bars.
The news caused spot gold to spike more than 3 percent, from US$3,290 to US$3,398, and sent December futures to an all-time high of US$3,549. Meanwhile, traders halted imports of Swiss bars.
After several days of turmoil, Trump said the ruling was incorrect, and the bars would not be included in the tariff measures being applied to other Swiss imports; the gold price then retreated.
How would gold tariffs have impacted the market?
Gold functions as both a commodity and an essential part of the world’s financial system.
One kilogram and 100 ounce gold bars are used to back futures trading, and regular shipments of the metal are needed to settle contracts once they come due. A 39 percent tariff on gold from Switzerland would have been particularly disruptive, as Swiss refineries account for approximately 70 percent of the world’s gold.
According to the UN Comtrade database, in 2024, Switzerland exported more than 1,400 metric tons of unwrought gold worth more than US$106 billion, representing nearly 30 percent of the country’s total exports. Tariffs would have forced US buyers to pay a significant premium for the precious metal versus buyers in London or Shanghai.
Because gold is often used as a store of value in times of uncertainty, any kind of disruption could have had broader implications for investors looking to add stability to their portfolios.
In an email to the Investing News Network (INN), Lauren Saidel-Baker, CFA, an economist with ITR Economics, explained that gold stands out as a unique investment mechanism:
“There are psychological nuances to gold, which is commonly viewed as a safe store of value during uncertain times and an inflation hedge. Overall, the tariff would have added another facet to the already elevated policy uncertainty."
If the tariffs had remained in place, the US gold price would have had to rise to around US$4,700 per ounce to cover levies, while international prices would have remained closer to the US$3,500 mark.
“Tariffs have already complicated supply chains across industries, and this gold tariff would have been another example of added cost and complexity — but in this case, one with the potential to more directly impact investment activities,” Saidel-Baker went on to explain, emphasizing that US investors would have felt the pinch.
Could gold tariffs happen in the future?
Given Trump's unpredictability, especially when it comes to tariffs, it's possible that gold levies could enter the conversation again. However, by and large experts agree that the matter is closed.
“I think it’s pretty clear at this point that there’s no intention to put tariffs on physical gold imports, and I think that would be very damaging and destructive if they did,” Stefan Gleason, CEO of Money Metals, told INN.
Keith Weiner, founder and CEO of Monetary Metals, offered another perspective, saying that although the gold tariff threat is over, the tumult could have long-term effects on the market.
"Once you've put the scare into everybody, you can't just say, 'Oh, sorry, just kidding.' You can't really do that. And so now we've done damage, and we'll see what happens to that spread over time. We'll see how users of the futures market adapt. There are other markets in the world that would be competing for," he explained.
"This hedging business, you know, maybe it moves to Singapore, maybe it moves to Dubai, maybe it moves to London, and the US loses not only a little more trust, but also a little bit of volume on what had been the biggest — or what is currently the biggest — futures market," Weiner added to INN.
Market participants will be watching closely for future impacts on the yellow metal.
Don't forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.