Empire Metals has announced the initiation of a drilling campaign at its Pitfield Project in Western Australia (WA).
The drilling aims to evaluate the extent of the titanium dioxide mineral system at Pitfield, enhance confidence in the mineral resource estimate (MRE) at Thomas and expand the Cosgrove MRE.
This extensive campaign involves 754 planned drill-holes, comprising 683 air core (AC) drillholes covering around 34,150m and 71 reverse circulation (RC) drill-holes covering approximately 7,100m, totalling 41,250m.
The company has dedicated three AC drill rigs and two RC rigs to this fully funded drilling initiative, which is anticipated to conclude by mid-April.
The primary objective is to deliver an updated MRE at Thomas that includes increased resource classification into the measured and indicated categories.
A significantly larger updated MRE is also anticipated for the Cosgrove area. These updates are projected to be ready by the third quarter of 2026 to assist ongoing engineering and study efforts.
The current MRE at Pitfield stands at 2.2 billion tonnes (bt) with a titanium dioxide grade of 5.1%, translating to 113 million tonnes of contained titanium dioxide.
This MRE spans only 20% of the known mineralised area, suggesting substantial potential for further resource expansion.
The largest drilling initiative at Pitfield encompasses exploration drilling alongside initial and infill mineral resource drilling over an area measuring 37km in length and up to 12km in width.
At Thomas, drilling on a smaller spaced grid will aim to boost confidence in the current MRE by focusing on high-grade titanium dioxide zones.
Extensive drilling at Cosgrove will extend the current MRE northwards and southwards, targeting weathered zones with a view to significantly enhancing the existing resource estimate of 430mt at 5.8% titanium dioxide.
All samples are due to reach Intertek Analytical Laboratory in Perth by the end of April.
Empire Metals managing director Shaun Bunn said: “We are pleased to commence this important drilling campaign at Pitfield, focused on upgrading our maiden MRE from the Thomas and Cosgrove Prospects (announced 14 October 2025) and extending the exploration target area.
“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.”
In June 2025, the company announced the successful development of a high-purity titanium dioxide product, achieving a 99.25% assay through conventional processes.
