Empire Metals Ltd has kicked off what it calls its largest drilling campaign to date at the Pitfield titanium project in Western Australia, a fully funded programme designed to expand its resource base and upgrade confidence at its Thomas and Cosgrove deposits.
The AIM-quoted explorer plans 754 holes for around 41,250 metres of drilling, split between 683 air-core holes (34,150m) and 71 reverse-circulation holes (7,100m). The company expects to run three air-core rigs and two RC rigs, with drilling forecast to finish by mid-April.
Empire said the work is intended to deliver an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) at Thomas with more tonnes moving into Measured and Indicated categories, alongside a significantly larger updated MRE at Cosgrove.
We are pleased to commence this important drilling campaign at Pitfield, focused on upgrading our maiden MRE from the Thomas and Cosgrove Prospects and extending the exploration target area,” said managing director Shaun Bunn.
“This fully-funded campaign is the largest undertaken to date at Pitfield and will significantly improve our understanding of the scale and grade of the Pitfield MRE, and also increase the confidence levels of Measured and Indicated Resources in readiness for developing mine design and Ore Reserves.”
At Thomas, drilling will target the higher-grade core on a tighter 100m x 100m grid, with a focus on the weathered zone where anatase is most prevalent.
At Cosgrove, the programme is designed to extend the current estimate north and south, building on its stated 430Mt at 5.8% TiO₂ resource.
Pitfield’s current MRE across Thomas and Cosgrove stands at 2.2 billion tonnes grading 5.1% TiO₂, equivalent to 113 million tonnes of contained TiO₂, with Empire noting the estimate covers only around 20% of the known mineralised footprint.
The company expects the drilling to support an updated MRE in Q3 2026 as it progresses engineering and study work.
