Fortuna Mining Corp. said parts of two gold-bearing drill holes extend beneath the current pit design at its Lindero Mine in Argentina, providing data for a reserve review the company plans for 2027.
Hole LDH-272 averaged 0.96 grams of gold per metric ton across 350 meters measured along the hole from the surface, Fortuna said Oct. 20. Within that span, 98 meters below the pit design averaged 0.91 g/t.
A second hole, LDH-259, averaged 0.85 g/t over 236 drilled meters from the surface. Its results included a 94-meter interval beneath the pit design averaging 0.66 g/t. The reported lengths follow the drill holes; Fortuna said the deposit’s shape prevents it from estimating the mineralized intervals’ true widths.
“This zone remains open at depth,” said Eric Chapman, Fortuna’s senior vice president of technical services.
Fortuna drilled 31 diamond holes totaling 8,534 meters in 2026 after expanding a program originally set at 6,000 meters. The company said it sought better information about inferred resources below the planned pit. It also collected samples to test projected gold recoveries in areas it expects to mine over the next two years.
The work follows a decline in Lindero’s reserves from mining in 2025. At Dec. 31, Fortuna estimated proven and probable reserves at 64.355 million metric tons averaging 0.54 g/t, or 1.108 million ounces of contained gold. Mining during the year depleted reserves by 6.1 million metric tons containing 121,000 ounces.
Fortuna separately reported 434,000 ounces in inferred resources. Those resources are outside its reserves and do not establish economic viability. The new drilling has not yet added to the reserve estimate.
Lindero produced 26,024 ounces of gold in the third quarter of 2026 and 68,398 ounces during the year’s first nine months, according to Fortuna’s production update.
The company aims to complete an updated block model and pit design by the end of 2026. It plans to release revised resource and reserve estimates in the first quarter of 2027.
