Barton Gold Holdings has commenced a pre-feasibility study (PFS) for its Tunkillia gold project in South Australia, marking a key step in the planned development of what the company describes as a large-scale, high-margin gold operation.
Engineering group GR Engineering Services has been appointed to lead the study. The appointment follows the delivery of Barton’s 2025 optimised scoping study, which outlined strong project economics and rapid capital payback potential.
The PFS will build on an expanded drilling program designed to upgrade and grow the resource base within the project’s key open-pit areas.
Barton has already completed a major Phase 1 reverse circulation drilling program of 18,900m, with a larger Phase 2 program now underway.
This second phase has been expanded to around 40,000m of reverse circulation drilling, supported by diamond drilling, and is targeting both resource upgrades and new mineralisation in the S1 and S2 starter pits, as well as extensions in the Area 51 zone.
The overall program is designed to improve confidence in the project’s mineral resource, increase grade quality and potentially expand the inventory included in the final mine plan.
According to the 2025 scoping study, Tunkillia has the potential to produce around 120,000 ounces of gold and 260,000 ounces of silver annually. The study also highlighted strong early-stage economics, including significant operating cash generation in the initial years of production, driven by higher-grade starter pits.
Barton Gold managing director Alexander Scanlon said the PFS marks an important step in advancing the project.
“Tunkillia’s optimised scoping study demonstrated the financial and capital leverage available to large-scale bulk processing operations, with robust economics driven by higher-grade ‘Starter Pits’ modelled to generate $1.75 billion operating profit during the first 2.5 years at current gold and silver prices,” he said in a statement.
Completion of the PFS is now targeted for the first quarter of calendar year 2027.
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