RUA GOLD Reports Significant Gold-Antimony Intercepts from Its Reefton Project

Rhea-AI Summary

RUA GOLD (TSXV: RUA) (OTCQB: NZAUF) has reported significant gold-antimony intercepts from its Auld Creek project within the Reefton Goldfield in New Zealand. Recent drilling results revealed impressive grades including 12m @ 12.2g/t AuEq (1.9g/t Au & 2.4% Sb) from hole ACDDH024 and 8m @ 13.2g/t AuEq (2.2g/t Au & 2.2% Sb) from hole ACDDH025.

The Auld Creek project currently has an inferred resource hosted by two ore shoots (Bonanza and Fraternal) with 700,000 tonnes at 3.1g/t Au and 1.1% Sb, containing 67,000oz of gold and 8,000 tonnes of antimony. Drilling has confirmed higher grade antimony mineralization within the Fraternal shoot, which remains open to the south and at depth.

This exploration success comes as antimony prices have surged to over US$50,000 per tonne from US$11,350 at the start of 2024. Antimony is considered a critical mineral with global supply, predominantly controlled by China, Russia, and Tajikistan. New Zealand recently added antimony to its first-ever critical minerals list on January 31, 2025.

Positive

• Strong antimony grades in recent drilling: 12m @ 12.2g/t AuEq (1.9g/t Au & 2.4% Sb) and 8m @ 13.2g/t AuEq (2.2g/t Au & 2.2% Sb)
• Existing inferred resource of 700,000 tonnes at 3.1g/t Au and 1.1% Sb (67,000oz gold and 8,000 tonnes antimony)
• Antimony prices surged to over US$50,000 per tonne from US$11,350 in early 2024
• Project remains open along strike and at depth with 2.5km exploration potential
• Antimony recently added to New Zealand's critical minerals list, enhancing strategic value

Negative

• No significant mineralization found in holes ACDDH022 and ACDDH023
• Current resource to only two of the four known shoots

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 25, 2025) - Rua Gold Inc. (TSXV: RUA) (OTCQB: NZAUF) (WKN: A40QYC) ("RUA GOLD" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on assay results from its gold-antimony exploration at the Auld Creek project, within the Reefton Goldfield on the South Island of New Zealand; reporting strong antimony grades from current drilling.

Highlights: 

• Drilling of Auld Creek commenced in December 2024, holes ACDD024 and ACDD025 intersected 4-5m of strong visible stibnite (antimony) mineralization. 

• Assay results show: 

  • ACDDH024: 12m @ 12.2g/t AuEq¹ (1.9g/t Au & 2.4% Sb) from 105m depth

    • Including 2m @ 54.8 g/t AuEq¹ (3.8g/t Au & 11.9% Sb) 

  • ACDDH025: 8m @ 13.2g/t AuEq¹ (2.2g/t Au & 2.2% Sb) from 106m depth 

    • Including 3m @ 33.2g/t AuEq¹ (3.6g/t Au & 6.9% Sb) 

• Auld Creek has an inferred resource hosted by two ore shoots, Bonanza and Fraternal. This resource outcrops at surface and is continuous to 160m vertically and open at depth. 

• Drilling has confirmed higher grade antimony mineralisation on the Fraternal shoot within a broader lower grade gold halo. Modelling suggesting a gentle plunge to the south, remains open to the south along strike and at depth with drilling commencing to the south to expand the existing resource. 

• Surface exploration is intensifying to target extensions to the Fraternal and Bonanza north and south, where it remains open over a 2.5km length.

Robert Eckford, CEO of RUA GOLD commented: "The results from these two holes drilled at Auld Creek show increased antimony grades which is very encouraging. It further supports the fact that we are holders of New Zealand's largest antimony resource and are delivering on the commitment to our shareholders to build on our inventory of gold ounces and antimony tonnes at our Reefton project.

Drilling to date on Auld Creek antimony-gold prospect has improved confidence in the existing resource and provided detail on higher grade plunging shoots open to the south. We are focused on expanding the Auld Creek resource north and south, with intensified surface exploration to assist targeting additional mineralization over its 2.5km surface strike length.

This comes on the back of both gold and antimony trading at all time high spot prices and both commodities being announced on New Zealand's first ever critical minerals list."

1. Using recent spot prices of gold and antimony, and applying a ~30% discount, the gold equivalent formula is based on AuEq = Au g/t + 4.3 x Sb% using a Au price of US$2065/oz, Sb price of US$34,300 per tonne and 85% recovery.

Figure 1: Overview of the Reefton Goldfield.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/10755/242259_e2854799c4fc58fb_007full.jpg

GLOBAL SUPPLY AND VALUE OF ANTIMONY

Antimony is a critical mineral sourced from stibnite (Sb₂S₃). In 2023, it was reported by the Critical Minerals Institute (CMI) as one of the scarcest of all critical minerals. Spot prices have risen as demand increases with its essential input into applications across renewable energy, liquid battery metals, defence and technological sectors.

Due to its scarcity and limited supply, predominantly controlled by China, Russia & Tajikistan, antimony is considered a strategic material essential for supply-chain security, particularly during periods of geopolitical instability. This was heightened in August 2024, when China announced export controls on processed antimony products. In response to these controls, nations have accelerated their efforts to secure alternative sources of antimony to mitigate the risk of significant supply chain vulnerabilities.

The US, EU, UK, Japan, Canada and Australia all designate antimony as a critical mineral. On January 31, 2025, New Zealand also announced their Critical Mineral List which included antimony.

Reflecting heightened demand, the price of antimony continues to reach new highs, trading over US$50,000 per tonne, a significant increase from US$11,350 per tonne at the start of 2024.

EXPLORATION POTENTIAL

Auld Creek Focus

RUA GOLD commenced drilling at Auld Creek in December 2024. It has a targeted program to drill four mineralised shoots identified from historical surface exploration work interpreted by the RUA GOLD team over the past 3 months.

Auld Creek is situated between two past producing mines, Globe Progress mine, and the Crushington Group of mines which collectively produced 933,000oz at 14.0g/t Au (Barry 1993). Auld Creek has three historic adits but no commercial production from the reefs.

RUA GOLD has an inferred resource indicating 700,000 tonnes at 3.1g/t Au and 1.1% Sb for 67,000oz of gold and 8,000 tonnes of antimony². The resource is restricted to two of the four known shoots. Soil geochemistry indicates the potential for discovery of additional mineralised shoots over a strike length of 2.5km.

2. Please see the Company’s technical report entitled, “Technical Report on Reefton Project, New Zealand”, dated October 30, 2024.

Two of the four holes completed to date intersected 4-5m of strong visible stibnite (antimony sulfide) mineralization in the Fraternal-Bonanza structure. No significant mineralization was found in holes ACDDH022 and ACDDH023. Results from ACDDH024, ACDDH025 confirm the average gold grades of current resource estimate but report higher antimony grades. Full table of results are in Tables 1 and 2 of the appendices.

Ongoing drilling is targeting the southern plunging Fraternal gold-antimony shoot which remains open along strike and at depth.

Intensified surface exploration is focused both north and north-west to delineate drill targets on the Fraternal North and Bonanza north-west extensions.

Figure 2: Fraternal and Bonanza ore shoots at Auld Creek.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/10755/242259_e2854799c4fc58fb_008full.jpg

ABOUT RUA GOLD

RUA GOLD is an exploration company, strategically focused on New Zealand. With decades of expertise, our team has successfully taken major discoveries into producing world-class mines across multiple continents. The team is now focused on maximizing the asset potential of RUA GOLD's two highly prospective high-grade gold projects.

The Company controls the Reefton Gold District as the dominant landholder in the Reefton Goldfield on New Zealand's South Island with over 120,000 hectares of tenements, in a district that historically produced over 2Moz of gold grading between 9 and 50g/t.

The Company's Glamorgan Project solidifies RUA GOLD's position as a leading high-grade gold explorer on New Zealand's North Island. This highly prospective project is located within the North Islands' Hauraki district, a region that has produced an impressive 15Moz of gold and 60Moz of silver.

For further information, please refer to the Company's disclosure record on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Simon Henderson CP, AUSIMM, a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and Chief Operating Officer and a director of RUA GOLD, has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained herein. Mr. Henderson has verified the data disclosed by running checks on the location, analytical, and test data underlying the information in the technical disclosure herein.

QA/QC Drill Core

Drillholes sampled following 1-m sample intervals unless geological contacts (i.e. dolerite intrusions) dictated otherwise. NQ core was analyzed as whole core; therefore, only requiring cutting along sample intervals. PQ and HQ core were sampled as half core.

Drill core samples were sent to SGS Westport for sample preparation. Core was crushed to 75% passing 2 mm, and 1-kg split of material was pulverized (to 85% passing 75 µm). No split duplicates were collected during the crushing steps. Two scoops were taken from the pulverize bowl: one for laboratory analysis (~150 g) and the other for pXRF analysis (~100 g). The pulp reject is stored in Reefton.

Pulverized drill core samples were analyzed by 50-g fire assay with AAS finish at SGS Waihi (SGS Code FAA505) and for antimony (Sb) by Sodium Peroxide Fusion Analysis by ICP-MS at SGS Waihi. The detection limit for Au by this method is 0.01 ppm. As part of SGS' internal quality control, SGS conducted repeat analyses, also at a rate of ~5%.

RUA GOLD Contact

Robert Eckford
Chief Executive Officer
Email: reckford@RUAGOLD.com
Website: www.RUAGOLD.com

This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this new release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-Looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur and specifically include statements regarding: the Company's strategies, expectations, planned operations or future actions, including but not limited to exploration programs at its Reefton and Glamorgan projects and the results thereof. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.

Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. A variety of inherent risks, uncertainties and factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, affect the operations, performance and results of the Company and its business, and could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Some of these risks, uncertainties and factors include: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; risks related to the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war; risks related to climate change; operational risks in exploration, delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration projects or capital expenditures; the actual results of current exploration activities; conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; changes in labour costs and other costs and expenses or equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, including but not limited to environmental hazards, flooding or unfavorable operating conditions and losses, insurrection or war, delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing, and commodity prices. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements and reference should also be made to the Company's short form base shelf prospectus dated July 11, 2024, and the documents incorporated by reference therein, filed under its SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca for a description of additional risk factors.

Forward-Looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

Table 1: Summary of assay results from hole ACDDH024.

Hole ID	Azimuth	Dip (⁰)	Easting (NZTM)	Northing (NZTM)	From	To	Interval (m)	Au g/t	Sb %	Au Eq
ACDDH024	220	-37	1507290	5333147	105	106	1	1.28	0.03	1.41
					106	107	1	1.65	0.01	1.69
					107	108	1	1.65	0.05	1.86
					108	109	1	1.79	0.04	1.96
					109	110	1	3.34	0.74	6.51
					110	111	1	1.71	0.89	5.53
					111	112	1	2.16	0.13	2.72
					112	113	1	1.18	0.34	2.64
					113	114	1	5.18	9.99	48.03
					114	115	1	2.42	13.80	61.61
					115	116	1	0.33	1.50	6.76
					116	117	1	0.32	1.61	7.23
						from 105m	12	1.92	2.43	12.33
						from 113m	2	3.80	11.90	54.82

 

Note: Intervals represented are down-hole intervals, and averages are arithmetic.

Table 2: Summary of assay results from hole ACDDH025.

Hole ID	Azimuth	Dip (⁰)	Easting (NZTM)	Northing (NZTM)	From	To	Interval (m)	Au g/t	Sb %	Au Eq
ACDDH025	246.8	-53.6	1507290	5333147	116	117	1	1.9	0.01	1.94
					117	118	1	0.48	0.01	0.52
					118	119	1	0.77	0.02	0.86
					119	120	1	1.14	0.01	1.18
					120	121	1	2.4	0.73	5.53
					121	122	1	7.29	3.87	23.89
					122	123	1	2.49	15.6	69.40
					123	124	1	1.04	1.29	6.57
						from 116m	8	2.2	2.7	13.74
						from 121m	3	3.6	6.9	33.29

 

Note: Intervals represented are down-hole intervals, and averages are arithmetic.

Table 3: Significant drilling intercepts for Auld Creek, full mineralized zone composites (1.5 g/t Au cut-off)¹.

Hole ID	Azimuth	Dip (⁰)	Easting (NZTM)	Northing (NZTM)	From (m)	To (m)	Downhole Interval (m)	Au (g/t)	Sb (%)
ACDDH004	45	-60	1507194	5332976	51.72	57.9	6.18	1.59	0,01
ACDDH004	45	-60	1507194	5332976	116.19	136.84	20.65	5.41	2.17
ACDDH005	100	-60	1507194	5332976	57.66	64.41	6.75	1.64	0.06
ACDDH005	100	-60	1507194	5332976	65.8	80.35	14.55	2.07	0.10
ACDDH007	40	-58	1507185	5332881	123.22	148.45	25.23	3.14	0.07
ACDDH008	100	-58	1507186	5332881	72.14	76.35	4.21	1.55	0.02
ACDDH011	130	-81	1507212	5333051	75.3	83.4	8.1	2.73	4.33
ACDDH015	158	-58	1507204	5333139	69.6	82	12.4	5.19	13.65
ACDDH015	158	-58	1507204	5333139	105	132.4	27.4	3.67	0.2
ACDDH016	330	-55	1507202	5333141	65	90	25	6.55	0.29

 

1. Full drilling results are available in the Company's technical report entitled, "Technical Report on Reefton Project, New Zealand", dated October 30, 2024.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/242259

FAQ

What gold and antimony grades did NZAUF report in its latest Auld Creek drilling results?

NZAUF reported 12m @ 12.2g/t AuEq (1.9g/t Au & 2.4% Sb) from hole ACDDH024 and 8m @ 13.2g/t AuEq (2.2g/t Au & 2.2% Sb) from hole ACDDH025 at its Auld Creek project.

How large is NZAUF's current antimony resource at the Reefton project?

NZAUF has an inferred resource at Auld Creek containing 8,000 tonnes of antimony within 700,000 tonnes of ore at 1.1% Sb and 3.1g/t Au.

How much has the antimony price increased in 2024 and why is it significant for NZAUF?

Antimony prices surged from US$11,350 per tonne in early 2024 to over US$50,000 per tonne, benefiting NZAUF as the holder of New Zealand's largest antimony resource.

When did New Zealand add antimony to its critical minerals list and how does this affect NZAUF?

New Zealand added antimony to its first-ever critical minerals list on January 31, 2025, enhancing the strategic importance of NZAUF's antimony resources.

What is the exploration potential for NZAUF's Auld Creek project?

NZAUF's Auld Creek project has exploration potential over a 2.5km strike length, with the resource remaining open to the south along strike and at depth.