Collective finds new gold zone in Colombia

Collective Mining (TSX, NYSE: CNL) said new drilling at its Guayabales project in Colombia has significantly expanded the size of the deposit’s Apollo system. The stock rose.

Hole APC-143D cut 130 metres grading 1 gram gold from 622 metres downhole, Collective said late Tuesday in a statement. Another hole, APC-140D, intersected 13 metres of 4.03 grams gold from 504 metres downhole and 25 metres grading 1.85 grams gold from 637 metres.

The two holes, sunk to provide kickoff points for drill testing the deposit’s Ramp zone, discovered a new zone of sheeted, gold-and silver-rich veinlets in Apollo’s hanging wall. This area, now called Hanging Wall, expands strike length northeast by about 43%, Collective said. It is distinct from the deposit’s breccia system.

Collective “continues to define and expand the mineralized system at Apollo above the high-grade Ramp zone,” Scotia Capital mining analyst Ovais Habib said in a note. “With a maiden resource estimate planned for late next year, we expect these latest exploration results would have positive implications on the Apollo deposit model.”

Shares of the company rose 4.7% to $16.26 Wednesday morning in Toronto, boosting the company’s market value to about $1.5 billion. The stock has traded between $4.84 and $20.83 in the past year.

Large scale

Toronto-based Collective is led by the former management of Continental Gold, which discovered and built Colombia’s largest gold mine before being acquired by Zijin Mining in 2020.

Guayabales lies about 80 km south of Medellín and next to Aris Mining’s (TSX: ARIS; NYSE: ARMN) Marmato gold mine, one of Colombia’s oldest operations. The region benefits from paved highway access, nearby power infrastructure and a skilled local workforce, supporting Collective’s year-round drilling and development work.

Drilling at Guyabales began in 2022.

Apollo, which anchors Guyabales, is a large-scale, high-grade system enriched in gold, silver, copper and tungsten with mineralization traced from surface to more than 1,370 metres downhole. It remains open along strike to the north and at depth, Collective said.

Northward extension

The company also released intercepts from a northward extension of the Apollo breccia.

They include hole APC106-D1, which cut 120 metres grading 1.26 grams gold from 138 metres downhole, including 18 metres at 3.06 grams gold from about 342 metres. Another hole, APC106-D2, intersected 18 metres of 6.16 grams gold from 342 metres depth.

Collective has completed 153,000 metres of diamond drilling at Guayabales and another nearby project, San Antonio – including 106,500 metres at Apollo.

Assay results

With 10 rigs operating as part of the 2025 drilling program, the company expects to receive assay results from multiple high-priority holes in the near term. Another 100,000 metres of drilling is planned for next year.

“It’s time to reframe our view of Apollo—not merely as a mineralized breccia system, but as a much larger entity encompassing the breccia body and surrounding sheeted vein zones with the potential to extend strike lengths by hundreds of metres,” executive chairman Ari Suskind said in the release.

“Most exciting is the serendipitous discovery of mineralization in the Hanging Wall vein zone during directional drilling of mother holes, which were intended solely to establish kick-off points for testing the high-grade Ramp zone at depth. With targeted drilling now planned for the Hanging Wall zone in 2026, I’m optimistic this will usher in a new era of significant resource expansion at Apollo.”