HAR gold drilling: Started in Senegal, about to start in the USA. Gold up 3% in the last 18 hours…

Disclosure: S3 Consortium Pty Ltd (the Company) and Associated Entities own 9,614,494 HAR Shares at the time of publishing this article. The Company has been engaged by HAR to share our commentary on the progress of our Investment in HAR over time. This information is general in nature about a speculative investment and does not constitute personal advice. It does not consider your objectives, financial situation, or needs.

Gold is up almost 3% in the last 18 hours:

Up above US$4,100 per ounce again...

Double where it was at the start of 2023... and only ~US$300 off the time highs it hit just a few weeks ago.

Over the last 5 days, our gold Investment Haranga Resources (ASX:HAR) has announced that:

1. Drilling is about to start at its USA gold project (in the coming weeks)

This project sits on the famous “California gold rush Motherlode”, has a 100% owned fully permitted and built gold processing plant and decline - yep, they finally finished pumping enough water out of the decline to start drilling.

(keep scrolling to see the photos showing the dewatering progress of HAR’s previously producing USA gold mine)

2. Drilling has commenced at its gold project in Senegal

Remember this one?

This was a lower priority “side project” for HAR (that we didn’t really care about at all until recently) that surprised everyone eight weeks ago by delivering some long, high grade gold intercepts from shallow drilling - enough for HAR to quickly commit to further drilling.

Now it firmly has our attention... here are the first results from 8 weeks ago that HAR are now following up with more drilling:

(Source)

So HAR will have two drill programs running in parallel over the coming weeks.

Will the gold price continue its multi year rise after the 21 day breather it took from October 21st to yesterday?

A 3% rise in the last 18 hours is a good start...

If gold runs back towards the all time highs it reached 21 days ago, market sentiment for gold stocks should return and start rewarding strong exploration results again.

A great backdrop for HAR to deliver gold drilling results from its two programs.

Another leg up in the gold price could be the trigger for valuations to go to the next level across the gold space.

(keeping in mind of course, the gold price can go down too... like we saw three weeks ago)

First, HAR started drilling at its gold project in Senegal 5 days ago.

Following up previous aircore results which (for us, unexpectedly) hit some serious high grade gold intercepts and triggered a run in HAR’s share price from 8c to 20c... (and helped HAR tuck away a $14M raise at 14c).

(the past performance is not an indicator of future performance)

More on the Senegalese asset in a second.

Then yesterday, HAR confirmed that it would be drilling at its US gold project in the “second half of November”.

(its the 12th of November now, so by our calculations, the “second half of November” is only a few days away)

HAR’s US gold project sits in the California Motherlode region - which was the centre of the original Californian gold rush.

The project has a 286,000 oz foreign resource estimate and HAR is aiming to drill and convert the resource to a JORC compliant status. (source)

(Data from 2008 shows that it could be a lot bigger too, up to ~682,000 ounces) (source)

HAR’s project has ~US$$90M of infrastructure on it, including a fully permitted processing plant and an underground decline (the deep tunnel used by miners to go in and extract the gold ore) which at the time of the acquisition was full of water.

(we saw it with our own eyes a few months back and it was very impressive and we can see why it would cost $90M+ to replace - see our HAR site visit note here)

HAR’s spent most of the last ~3-4 months dewatering the decline so that the project can be accessed from underground (to where the drill rigs need to get to).

Here are some photos of HAR’s progress on the mine dewatering:

(Source)

HAR confirmed yesterday that the project was now in a position where a diamond rig can access the required levels for drilling.

HAR’s plan is to drill ~21 holes in total, with one of the holes to be drilled down to 350m depths.

(HAR’s ground has rarely been drilled below 150m depths).

(Source)

So over the coming weeks we will get a few confirmatory holes, into parts of the project where we expect to see gold mineralisation...

AND we will also get that deep “hail mary” hole going for extensions at depth - the first hole down below 150m depth:

(Source)

This drilling is going to tell us a lot about the asset.

Armed with these new drilling results, HAR will be aiming to define a maiden JORC resource estimate on the project by January 2026...

Depending on the size and grade of that JORC resource, the market could start to draw comparisons between HAR’s asset and another ASX listed, US gold peer - Dateline Resources.

Dateline has been in the media for its rare earth potential but its Colosseum project in California is actually a primary gold project.

Dateline’s project has a 1.1M ounce gold resource estimate and the company just started a Bankable Feasibility Study on the project. (Source)

(Remember HAR thinks it can get to ~682,000 ounces based on 2008 data alone)

In early October Dateline’s share price peaked at ~67.5c per share - up over 200x from its 12-month lows.

(Source)

The past performance is not and should not be taken as an indication of future performance. Caution should be exercised in assessing past performance. This product, like all other financial products, is subject to market forces and unpredictable events that may adversely affect future performance.

So over the next ~3 months in HAR, we will have exposure to two drill programs across two different countries.

Ultimately, in the short term we think progress on the company’s gold assets will drive a re-rate in its market cap, as per our Big Bet as follows:

Our HAR Big Bet:

“HAR re-rates to a market cap greater than $200M by making new gold discoveries in California and progressing towards production or is acquired at a multiple of our initial entry price”

NOTE: our “Big Bet” is what we HOPE the ultimate success scenario looks like for this particular Investment over the long term (3+ years). There is no guarantee that our Big Bet will ever come true. There is a lot of work to be done, many risks involved, including development risk, country risk and commodity price risk - just some of which we list in our HAR Investment Memo.

Success will require a significant amount of luck. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance.

More on HAR’s gold project in Senegal

Back in early September, HAR ran a shallow aircore drill program and hit some very decent drill results.

For example, hole #8 went from 20m at 6g/t gold to 20m at 6.54g/t gold.

HAR’s share price really started moving on that second announcement (when the initial assays were re-assayed and upgraded the first batch of results):

(Source)

The past performance is not and should not be taken as an indication of future performance. Caution should be exercised in assessing past performance. This product, like all other financial products, is subject to market forces and unpredictable events that may adversely affect future performance.

The results came as a complete surprise to us - we were mainly invested in HAR for the US asset (see our “Big Bet” above that we wrote in June) so we weren’t really paying attention to the Senegalese project.

So this next round of drilling (which is currently happening) is definitely one we will watch closely.

The ultimate win for HAR here will be a Predictive Discovery style major gold discovery - anyone who followed that stock will remember they had a similar story arc.

Predictive drilled a few aircore holes with low expectations, hit high grade gold, followed it up with RC drilling and ~5 years later it’s capped at ~$1.6BN.

Predictive hit gold in shallow aircore holes and the market did nothing to its share price.

Then when the deeper holes came back with gold and a discovery was declared, Predictive's share price started running.

Predictive is the most obvious comparable success story to what a big, outsized win for HAR could look like here. No guarantees of course.

(Source)

The past performance is not and should not be taken as an indication of future performance. Caution should be exercised in assessing past performance. This product, like all other financial products, is subject to market forces and unpredictable events that may adversely affect future performance.

Right now, HAR is running its second phase of drilling - with the main aim being to work out how far along the project area the gold structures continue - before coming back with a deeper rig and sticking deep holes into the project.

HAR expects to have results from that drilling before the end of the year...

And depending on the results, HAR will come back with a rig that can drill deeper next year...

(Source)

HAR also has a bunch of high grade gold soil anomalies trending to the southwest AND a big new batch of soil sampling with assays pending to the southeast:

(Source)

These early results could be the makings of a big discovery - or it could go nowhere.

What we do know is that often big discoveries are made when no one expects anything to happen (that’s exploration for you).

IF HAR can find anything remotely valuable then it is also in a part of the world where it could attract attention from much larger capped peers too.

HAR’s project sits in an area with some big operating mines including projects owned by $16BN Endeavour Mining and $2.5BN Resolute Mining.

(The region has a few other gold discoveries too, so it's not in the middle of nowhere).

So a big discovery from HAR here could very easily bring with it corporate attention (if the early results haven’t already).

(Source)

What’s next for HAR?

Drilling on HAR’s US gold project 🔄

HAR expects to have a rig on site in the next few weeks - now that dewatering has been completed on the section of the decline where HAR will be drilling from.

HAR then expects to have that drilling lead into a maiden JORC resource estimate on the project in January 2026. (Source)

Drilling on HAR’s gold project in Senegal 🔄

HAR is drilling at this asset right now.

HAR’s second phase of drilling is primarily aimed at working out how far along the project area the gold structures continue - before coming back with a deeper rig and sticking deep holes into the project.

HAR expects to have results from that drilling before the end of the year... (Source)

HAR also has soil samples coming from a big part of its project to the west too:

(Source)

What are the risks?

In the short term, the key risk for HAR will be “exploration risk”.

HAR is currently drilling in Senegal and will soon be drilling in the USA.

If either drill campaign fails to deliver extensions to known mineralisation, or fails to confirm/upgrade the historical foreign resource in the USA, the market may re-rate the stock lower.

Exploration risk

There is no guarantee that HAR’s upcoming drill programs are successful and HAR may fail to find economic gold deposits.

Source: “What could go wrong” - HAR Investment Memo 25 June 2025.

Other risks

Like any stock market investment, investing in HAR carries a multitude of risks which may affect the value of the company, some of which may not be foreseeable (this is the nature of risks).

Here we aim to identify a few more risks.

HAR’s US project is still at the exploration and early-development stage. It is possible that drilling fails to convert the existing non-JORC resource into a JORC-compliant resource of economic significance.

The company is also exposed to fluctuations in the gold price. A sustained downturn could impact the perceived value of both its US and Senegal assets, and limit HAR’s ability to secure funding on favourable terms.

As a small cap explorer, HAR remains highly reliant on capital markets to fund exploration and development. Any capital raising may dilute existing shareholders, particularly if market conditions weaken.

There are also permitting and development risks. While HAR’s US project has significant sunk capital and existing permits in place, additional mining-related permits are still required, and any delays could affect timelines.

In Senegal, political, regulatory and operating risks are higher compared to more established jurisdictions, and may impact exploration or potential future development.

Finally, as with all speculative explorers, the current share price may already factor in future upside, particularly in a rising gold market, which increases the risk of sharp volatility around drilling results.

Investors should carefully consider these risks and seek professional advice tailored to their personal circumstances before investing.

Our HAR Investment Memo:

Our Investment Memo provides a short, high-level summary of our reasons for Investing.

We use this memo to track the progress of all our Investments over time.

Click here to read our HAR Investment Memo where you will find:

• What does HAR do?
• The macro theme for HAR
• Our HAR Big Bet
• What we want to see HAR achieve
• Why we are Invested in HAR
• The key risks to our Investment Thesis
• Our Investment Plan