Why December Could Be Massive for This $9m Gold Explorer
Miners pulled 90 g/t gold here in the 1890s before water drove them out – now BUS is first to drill it properly, with assays pending from multiple other Vic targets
Bubalus Resources (ASX: BUS) sits at 13 cents with a string of Victorian gold projects that many punters have barely noticed. That might be about to change.
The company just wrapped drilling at Crosbie North, 15 kilometres from Fosterville, one of Australia’s highest grade gold mines. Core samples are at the lab now, with results due in December.
To get a read on what BUS is seeing in the ground, MD Brendan Borg walked through the drill setup, the core coming out of the hole, and the sulphides that have the team leaning in.
Here’s the clip:
But Crosbie North is just the opening move in what shapes up as a busy few months.
While they wait for results there, BUS is already moving the rig to Avon Plains (our pick of the bunch), a historical gold mine that pulled 60-90 g/t from shallow shafts until water inflow shut them down in the 1890s.
BUS secured Avon Plains, which sits on private ground, when gold was $3,000/oz. Now it’s pushing $4,000/oz and BUS is about to be the first to drill the site properly.
The mine wasn’t abandoned because the reef failed. Water inflow defeated the technology of the 1890s, and everyone walked away.
If grades even loosely rhyming with those historical numbers show up in drilling, the share price could move hard from the current level.
Crosbie North: First Drilling Done, Now We Wait
The diamond drill rig has packed up at Crosbie North after punching the first proper holes into this northern section of the project. They’ve now pulled 144 core samples and sent them off to the lab.
Sitting just 15km from Agnico Eagle’s Fosterville operation tells you most of what you need to know about the neighbourhood.
The rocks intersected match the geological setting BUS was chasing - very much in line with the Bendigo Zone geology that’s fed Victoria’s goldfields for a long time.
December’s when we’ll know if those sulphides carry gold, and one decent intercept here would turn heads quickly given where it sits and what’s around it.
This is still wide open ground among the right rocks in the right neighbourhood, and the assays will be the first real read on how this part of the project stacks up.
Avon Plains: Historic Reef Meets Modern Drills
Avon Plains is the clear near-term swing factor for BUS and easily the most exciting part of the Victorian portfolio.
A drill rig is locked in, and BUS will kick off a minimum 1,200 metre drilling program in early December, with every metre aimed directly at the high grade quartz reef that fed the original Avon Plains Gold Mine more than a century ago.
Historical records from the 1890s to early 1900s paint a remarkably consistent picture. Newspaper reports repeatedly cite standout assays of 2–3 ounces per tonne (60–90 g/t gold) from shallow shafts, including material pulled from just 11 metres below surface.
Other reports describe grades in the 12–15 g/t range and quartz veins visibly carrying gold across multiple workings. Early miners were extracting genuine high-grade ore using only picks, buckets, and rudimentary hoisting gear.
They were forced to walk away because water inflow at around 20 metres made the shafts unmanageable with the technology of the time.
Nobody’s ever drilled deep into this reef. Think about that for a second - a system that was returning up to 90 g/t in the 1890s has never seen a modern drill rig.
At most Victorian historical mines, several generations of explorers have already drilled beneath the old workings. Avon Plains has never had that scrutiny.
This is why the market is likely underestimating Avon Plains. This is not a conceptual geochemical anomaly or a distant greenfields idea.
This is a historically proven high-grade gold reef with documented production numbers, sitting untested for more than a century in one of the most productive gold belts in the country.
Wilson’s Hill: High-Grade Hits on the Books
The sleeper in the BUS portfolio of gold projects is Wilson’s Hill. A somewhat forgotten asset that already has high grade gold on the books, thanks to historical Western Mining drilling that hit eight metres at 23.83 g/t.
That intercept that would make headlines if it dropped today.
Drilling will kick off there in early 2026 after BUS extended their option over the ground.
With mineralisation already confirmed, Wilson’s Hill sits nicely in the queue behind Avon Plains and the Crosbie targets, giving the company another genuine shot at a high grade outcome and strengthening the longer-term exploration lineup.
Crosbie South: Early Gold and More Work Ahead
BUS drilled Crosbie South earlier in the year and hit gold in every hole. The standout was 50 g/t over 0.2 metres, with several other veins carrying smaller pops of grade.
BUS followed that up with a geochemical review that helped map the alteration and pathfinder trends across the system. That review pointed to a few spots worth a closer look, so the team cut another 47 samples around the known intervals. Those assays land in December.
Once those numbers are in, BUS can tighten the model and work out where the next round of drilling should land. The structures remain open, and the early hits give them enough to chase along strike.
Crosbie South sits behind Crosbie North and Avon Plains in the immediate queue, but it stays in play. There’s a system here, and BUS is working through it methodically.
Final Thoughts
Bubalus Resources enter the next few months with multiple shots on goal. Crosbie North and South both have assays pending, Avon Plains is weeks away from its first modern drilling in more than a century, while Wilson’s Hill is lined up for drilling early next year and already carries a standout historical hit.
For a company sitting at 13 cents and around $9 million market cap, the number of proven systems now in play feels under-appreciated.
December and early 2025 will bring steady news flow, and any strong result could shift how the market values this Victorian gold portfolio.
