A series of high-grade drilling results is adding to Astral Resources' momentum as it derisks its flagship Mandilla project in Western Australia's Goldfields, where it's aiming for first gold in late 2027.

Managing director Marc Ducler says Astral's demonstrated ability to add ounces cost-effectively is also being put to work at its new tenement package, while it continues to take Mandilla towards production.

The project sits in a prime location, 70km south of Kalgoorlie, and includes the satellite Feysville deposit just 14km south of the Super Pit.

Astral has technical work underway to deliver a definitive feasibility study for the 100%-owned project in the June quarter.

A recent prefeasibility study outlined a 19-year operation producing 1.4 million ounces of gold at all-in sustaining costs of A$2,085/oz, with a base case revenue of $6 billion using a conservative gold price of $4,250.

Fresh, standout results from a 99-hole program underway at Mandilla's cornerstone Theia deposit include 32m at 11g/t, while infill drilling at Iris earlier this month revealed high-grade intercepts including 4m at 21.3g/t outside the project's pit designs.

Meanwhile the latest results from the neighbouring Spargoville project, gained through Astral's acquisition of Maximus Resources in May, include 26m at 2g/t. Ducler said the results were very encouraging and demonstrated further resource potential on top of Spargoville's recently updated 139,000oz – which was not included in the Mandilla PFS due to the timing of the acquisition.

"We believe the Theia infill drilling will confirm our model estimates, potentially even with a slight bias to the upside," Ducler said.

"So back us in as we do our greenfields exploration, we have a history of growing at A$20/oz."

Line of sight to development

Ducler said the pressure was on to cost-effectively deliver on Mandilla and keep a line of sight on debt and equity requirements as Astral moved towards the development stage, ideally in the September quarter next year.

"It's all about preparing the DFS, early contractor involvement, doing everything we need to do so we can hit the ground running post the final investment decision," he said.

"We want to deliver the DFS in the June quarter, the FID early in the September quarter and we want to be boots on ground the day after FID."

The company expects to appoint a preferred engineering partner in the coming weeks.

It's also building out a team with the development capability to execute Mandilla.

A case of perfect timing

"Time is the lever we can pull that has the biggest impact on value," Ducler explains.

"The longer we spend pre-revenue, the more we have to dilute our shareholders in funding our business – so let's move towards a revenue generating position as quickly as we can."

The stars are aligning for Astral with improving market sentiment and a record gold price currently above $5,400/oz.

"There's strong support from an equity side, there's incredible support from mainstream banks to fund these types of projects, so we want to position ourselves to execute everything we need to do while the thematic is so strong," Ducler said.

The experienced team behind Astral also has skin in the game.

The board is led by Mark Connelly and market support will see Astral added to the All Ordinaries index later this month.

"I have over half of my personal wealth now attached to this project, so there's no shortage of motivation for me," Ducler said.

"Our aim is to drive towards production.

"That's our number one focus."