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Locksley gears up for major NSW copper-gold drilling push

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Cite

Ward, M. (2026, October 21). Locksley gears up for major NSW copper-gold drilling push. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/locksley-gears-up-for-major-nsw-copper-gold-drilling-push-20261021-p617jn.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

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The Sydney Morning Herald · collected 2026-10-21 · by Murray Ward

Quick Summary

Locksley Resources is intensifying its copper-gold drilling efforts in New South Wales, specifically at the Greater Tottenham district, with plans for a 15,500-metre campaign. The company has established an operations base to process core samples and enhance drill targeting by reviewing historical data from over 70 holes drilled previously. At Iron Duke, a newly acquired project, Locksley is preparing for a 5500-metre drilling program aimed at extending known mineralisation. These initiatives follow the company’s strategic shift towards its Australian assets earlier this year.
Written by AI on 2026-10-21, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

As of October 21, 2026, Locksley Resources has initiated a major drilling campaign at its Greater Tottenham copper-gold district in the Cobar region of New South Wales. The company is embarking on a 15,500-metre drilling program to explore and expand its mineral resources. This strategic move follows Locksley’s shift away from US assets and includes setting up an operations base at Tottenham for core processing and logistics.

The drilling aims to test gaps in known mineralization between 100m and 150m, as well as probe for potential extensions of the mineral deposits. To enhance targeting accuracy, Locksley is reviewing historical data from over 70 drill holes spanning several decades. Additionally, metallurgical sampling using fresh sulphide material collected from historical core samples has commenced at the Carolina prospect.

The district already boasts a resource base at the Tottenham prospect consisting of 9.86 million tonnes grading 0.73% copper, 0.22g/t gold, and 2g/t silver. Locksley is finalizing drill rig contracts and local access arrangements to proceed with the drilling operations.

Written for “Locksley Drilling Push” on 2026-11-03, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Locksley Drilling Push
Economy/Business · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

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Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
25
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 25 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
61/100
The Sydney Morning Herald's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Economy/Business
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-21 · how these are computed

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Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Sydney Morning Herald · 5874 article(s) · 15 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 15 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Murray Ward
58 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The aggressive ramp-up comes as gold remains near historically elevated levels, with the Australian Government forecasting prices to stay high through 2026 and 2027.
🔮 With the incumbent government returned to power in the recent election, that policy support looks set to continue.
🔮 Notably, the ore was trucked 121 kilometres to the Edna May processing plant, which Forrestania now owns.
🔮 The most encouraging results come from two holes on the program’s distant flanks, suggesting the mineralisation could be large-scale and wide open.
🔮 Much of what Dateline has become, and much of what it will yet achieve, rests on foundations that Mark helped to lay.” Despite a recent legal challenge over the validity of mining approvals dating back to 1985, which has temporarily stalled development, the robust study points to what Dateline says is a technically straightforward restart of the historic mine, backed by some hefty economics.
🔮 The company will now get to work assessing whether the results are strong enough to support a maiden mineral resource estimate at the prospect.
2026-10-27 · assertive framing · Zenith fills in blanks on 600m WA gold corridor
🔮 Dual-asset gold producer Kaiser Reef has wiped a key debt from its books after a solid September quarter, a move expected to unchain about $600,000 a month in operating cash flow.
🔮 Most discovered that an IPO or discounted placement could become an even bigger bargain once trading began.
🔮 The 6000m to 9000m program will probe gold-in-soil targets at the Coodardy/Behring Bore area, where recent surface work has suggested the company’s known gold footprint could be considerably larger than previously thought.
2026-10-23 · assertive framing · Golden Dragon drills for gold beneath 3km WA anomaly
🔮 Headlining the progress snapshot is an intriguing new clue from its key pancreatic cancer trial, suggesting the drug’s effectiveness may not depend on whether a patient’s tumour carries certain cancer-driving mutations in the KRAS gene.
Also by Murray Ward
Aguia revenue triples as twin South American projects fire
2026-11-02 · The Sydney Morning Herald
Forrestania adds more gold ounces to WA production pipeline
2026-10-28 · The Sydney Morning Herald
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 58 articles by Murray Ward →

Topics

Carolina Greater Tottenham Locksley Locksley Resources Tottenham

Subjects

Locksley PERSON · 6× Australian NORP · 2× Carolina ORG · 2× Cobar GPE · 2× Greater Tottenham ORG · 2× Iron Duke ORG · 2× Locksley Resources ORG · 2× Tottenham ORG · 2× Bevan Tarrett PERSON · 1× New South Wales GPE · 1×

Narrative

Locksley Resources has moved swiftly from strategy to execution at its enormous 1000-square-kilometre Greater Tottenham copper-gold district in the Cobar region of New South Wales, kicking off an integrated technical program designed to fast-track a 15,500-metre drilling campaign, following a strategic pivot away from its US assets.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-21
🔮 The drilling will test a 100m-150m gap in the known mineralisation and probe for extensions.
2026-10-21 · The Sydney Morning Herald
Locksley gears up for major NSW copper-gold drilling push · assertive framing

Claims (25 extracted, 0 hedged)

Locksley Resources has moved swiftly from strategy to execution at its enormous 1000-square-kilometre Greater Tottenham copper-gold district in the Cobar region of New South Wales, kicking off an integrated technical program designed to fast-track a 15,500-metre drilling campaign, following a strategic pivot away from its US assets. asserted
Resources → move → assets
Locksley has now established a local operations base at Tottenham to serve as a hub for core processing, sampling and logistics. asserted
Locksley → establish → processing
A key part of the new program involves a deep dive into the project’s history, with the geos systematically reviewing historical diamond core from more than 70 historical holes drilled over several decades to sharpen drill targeting. asserted
geos → involve → targeting
Metallurgical sampling has also begun, using fresh sulphide material collected from historical drill core at its Carolina prospect. asserted
sampling → begin → prospect
At the same time, the company is finalising a drill rig contract and progressing access arrangements with local landholders so the drill rods can start turning. asserted
rods → finalise → landholders
Greater Tottenham already packs an impressive punch, led by an existing resource at the Tottenham prospect of 9.86 million tonnes (Mt) grading 0.73 per cent copper, 0.22g/t gold and 2g/t silver. asserted
Tottenham → pack → copper
Locksley expanded its portfolio just days ago by securing an option on the nearby Iron Duke project, adding a historical resource to its inventory of 1.3 Mt at one per cent copper and 0.6g/t gold. asserted
Locksley → expand → copper
‘Locksley has moved quickly from strategy to execution at Greater Tottenham. asserted
Locksley → move → Tottenham
The company’s impressive work rate is all pushing towards the main event: getting the drill bit into the ground. asserted
rate → push → ground
At Iron Duke, the company says permitting with the NSW Mines Department is well advanced for an initial 5500-metre program designed from 28 drill pads. asserted
permitting → say → pads
The drilling will test a 100m-150m gap in the known mineralisation and probe for extensions. asserted
drilling → test → extensions
Locksley Resources chairman Bevan Tarratt said: “Locksley has moved quickly at Greater Tottenham. asserted
Locksley → say → Tottenham
The core facility is working, historical core is being re- asserted
core → work → ?
logged, metallurgical samples are being collected and drill planning is advancing across our priority areas. asserted
planning → log → areas
Notably, Iron Duke features a history of high-grade results. asserted
Duke → feature → results
Previous rock chip sampling returned values up to a spectacular 26.1 per cent copper and drilling delivered intercepts including 13m at 1.56 per cent copper and 4.48 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from just 37m. asserted
drilling → return → m.
At the same time, the company is designing a bigger 10,000-metre drill program for its Carolina and Mount Royal-Orange Plains prospects to test sparsely drilled areas and chase extensions to known high-grade mineralisation. asserted
company → design → mineralisation
Additionally, the company is finalising an independent mineral resource estimate for Tottenham and Iron Duke, which it says will provide a geological baseline for future resource growth drilling. asserted
it → finalise → drilling
The move comes just two months after the company made the savvy call to halt exploration at its US critical minerals portfolio and redirect its firepower towards its Australian assets. asserted
company → come → assets
In August, Locksley ceased all fieldwork at its Mojave project in California following a strategic review, a decision influenced by a more than 57 per cent collapse in antimony prices from their 2025 peak and a lack of project scale. asserted
Locksley → cease → scale
With its focus now squarely on home soil, the company appears to be going all-in on a sprawling 1000-square-kilometre project brimming with untapped potential. asserted
company → appear → potential
The ground sits within the Girilambone Basin of the resource-rich Lachlan Fold Belt, a region that hosts some of NSW’s most significant copper and gold operations, including the Cobar mining district and the Tritton and Mineral Hill mines. asserted
that → sit → district
After trading the uncertainty of early-stage US exploration for a district-scale Australian copper play, Locksley now appears to have a clear path forward. asserted
Locksley → trade → path
With an operations base up and running, historical data being mined for new insights and a major drilling campaign on the horizon, the company’s focus looks to have well and truly shifted from boardroom strategy to the core shed. asserted
focus → run → shed
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? asserted
company → list → something
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