Sunstone Metals (ASX:STM) has delivered another long gold-copper hit at Bramaderos, with drilling at Melonal returning 296.7m @ 0.43g/t AuEq from surface outside the current resource.
That included:
- 64.3m @ 0.69g/t AuEq from surface
- 82.3m @ 0.50g/t AuEq from 83.7m
A second hole, MEDD006, added 102m @ 0.52g/t AuEq from surface, including 48.5m @ 0.62g/t AuEq.
The pit wall is starting to look conservative
The key point is location.
The latest drilling has identified substantial mineralisation below and south of the currently planned southern pit wall at Melonal.
Sunstone’s modelling also points to a larger southeast-plunging target extending beyond the present drilling footprint.
That matters because Melonal sits outside the existing Bramaderos Mineral Resource.
So every metre added here has the potential to feed directly into the next resource update.
Figure 1: The cluster of five porphyry gold-copper systems in the Bramaderos concessions, showing the area where resource drilling in the recent drill program was undertaken at Porotillo.
Porotillo is helping too
Melonal is not carrying the growth story alone.
At Porotillo, trench PO-8 returned 109.7m @ 0.61g/t AuEq, extending surface mineralisation at another porphyry centre outside the existing resource.
Melonal and Porotillo are two of five deposits within the broader Bramaderos central porphyry cluster.
That gives Sunstone several ways to grow the system at once.
Bigger than 3.6Moz?
Bramaderos currently hosts 220Mt @ 0.50g/t AuEq for 3.6Moz AuEq.
But Sunstone has now drilled 28 mineralised holes across porphyry systems sitting outside that current resource envelope.
The company also carries a broader porphyry Exploration Target of 4.1Moz to 11.2Moz AuEq, although that remains conceptual and is not a Mineral Resource.
What’s next
Assays are still pending from two more Melonal holes, additional Melonal channel sampling and further Porotillo trenches.
Those results will feed into the planned 2026 Bramaderos Mineral Resource update in the coming quarter.
The current resource already has scale, Sunstone is now drilling to show it may not have the full picture yet.
