The playbook — gold · September 25, 2026
Lundin's best-ever near-mine hole lands, and a new zone opens 2 km south
204.26 g/t gold over 3.05 metres at Bonza Sur, plus a fresh epithermal discovery at Quebrada Dorada that stretches the district trend to 8 km — intercepts at roughly 173–185 m depth.
Lundin Gold drilled the richest near-mine hole in its history. Hole BLP-2026-553 at the Bonza Sur target cut 204.26 grams of gold per tonne over 3.05 metres — enough gold in every tonne of that rock to fill more than six and a half grams, when a single gram per tonne is often worth mining. Inside that interval sat a 0.60-metre slice grading 1,035 g/t. The company reported it alongside a batch of other strong Bonza Sur veins and a separate new discovery, Quebrada Dorada, sitting about 2 km south. Lundin says the discovery pushes its district trend to 8 km of strike, with the discovery-hole gold logged roughly 173 to 185 metres below surface. This is a working mine, Fruta del Norte in southeast Ecuador, drilling to grow the resource next door to the plant.
Why it matters: the Bonza Sur numbers are clustered, not one lucky hole. Several holes returned repeat high-grade veins — 4.2 metres at 28.05 g/t, 5.5 metres at 13.75 g/t, 2.9 metres at 25.24 g/t — which points to distinct high-grade zones that hold together in a shallow system. Quebrada Dorada’s best width-times-grade so far was 13.05 metres at 6.53 g/t. The company running it is now led by Jamie Beck, who as CEO of Filo Corp. oversaw a copper-gold-silver discovery that ended in a $4.5 billion buyout by BHP and Lundin Mining. Newmont holds roughly 32% of Lundin Gold. Over the past three months the stock rose 21.8%, almost exactly matching the junior-miner index GDXJ at 22.7% and running about three times the 6.7% move in gold itself — riding the sector tide rather than breaking from it.
What to watch: assays are pending on Bonza Sur holes BLP-2026-559, 562, 483-D6 and 483-D7, plus Quebrada Dorada’s ALE-2026-545. An integrated FDN mine plan and a mill-expansion decision are flagged for later in 2026, with the company targeting a maiden Sandia resource in early 2027. The caveats are real. Every intercept is reported as drill-core length, not true width, and the company says so plainly — these steep quartz veins are likely materially narrower in the ground. No cut-off grade was disclosed; the tables apply a reporting threshold (width × grade > 4.2 at Bonza Sur, > 2 at Quebrada Dorada) rather than a formal cut-off, which can affect how boundary intervals are selected. Those bonanza grades ride on very short intervals, where coarse-gold nuggets can inflate assays. Quebrada Dorada is “sparsely tested” with many holes returning nothing significant, and the qualified person is a company employee, not independent.