Issued on behalf of RUA GOLD Inc.
Gold gets the headlines, but it's the antimony alongside it — a metal the West is scrambling to secure — that could make this historic goldfield strategically important. And the company drilling it just crossed the halfway mark, ahead of schedule.
VANCOUVER, BC, June 18, 2026 /CNW/ -- USA News Group News Commentary — In a remote corner of New Zealand's South Island, a goldfield that helped build the country more than a century ago is being reborn — and this time, the story is about more than gold. The Reefton Goldfield once produced over two million ounces of gold at grades that would make a modern miner weep with envy. Today it is the focus of an intensive, around-the-clock drilling campaign, not only because of the gold still in the ground, but because of what sits alongside it: antimony, an unglamorous metal that has suddenly become one of the most strategically contested materials on Earth. As Western governments scramble to secure antimony supply outside of China, a high-grade gold-antimony project advancing toward development in a stable, mining-friendly jurisdiction has taken on a significance far beyond its size.
Companies mentioned: RUA GOLD Inc. (TSX: RUA) (NZX: RGI) (OTC: NZAUF), Alkane Resources Limited (ASX: ALK) (TSX: ALK), Southern Cross Gold Consolidated Ltd. (TSX: SXGC) (ASX: SX2), Larvotto Resources Limited (ASX: LRV), NevGold Corp. (TSXV: NAU) (OTCQX: NAUFF)
On June 17, 2026, RUA GOLD Inc. (TSX: RUA) (NZX: RGI) (OTC: NZAUF) reported strong progress at its Auld Creek gold-antimony project in the Reefton Goldfield, underscoring just how quickly the asset is advancing. The Company said recent drilling continues to demonstrate strong evidence to expand the gold-antimony resource over a strike length of more than 1,000 metres and to depths beyond 500 metres — and that it has now collared its 100th hole, with roughly 10,000 metres of a planned 19,000-metre program already complete. With the drilling running ahead of schedule, RUA remains on track to fold the results and a battery of technical studies into a Pre-Feasibility Study targeted for completion in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Why Antimony Turned a Gold Project Strategic
For most of modern history, antimony was an afterthought — a metal used to harden alloys, retard flames, and manufacture munitions, sourced cheaply and rarely discussed. That changed abruptly when its supply chain collided with geopolitics. China dominates global antimony production and processing, and as it tightened export controls, Western governments confronted an uncomfortable reality: a material essential to defense and energy applications was overwhelmingly controlled by a single strategic rival. Antimony is now formally classified as a critical mineral in the United States and other Western economies, and the race to secure supply outside of China has become a national-security priority — a dynamic vividly illustrated by the multi-billion-dollar U.S. government backing flowing to domestic antimony projects.
That backdrop is what elevates a project like Auld Creek. RUA has described it as hosting New Zealand's largest known antimony deposit, and the metal occurs alongside high-grade gold — meaning a single operation could produce both a precious metal enjoying record prices and a critical mineral the West urgently needs. The combination is potent: gold underwrites the economics, while antimony layers on strategic relevance and a second revenue stream. In an investment climate that prizes both precious-metal exposure and critical-mineral security, a project that credibly offers both, in an allied and stable jurisdiction, occupies unusually attractive ground.
What the Latest Drilling Shows
The June update paints a picture of a project gathering momentum. Drilling is running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with the goal of completing the full 19,000-metre program by around the start of September. Recent holes have, in the Company's words, provided definitive proof of grade continuity in the project's southern Fraternal zone, raising confidence in the resource envelope some 300 metres below surface. Highlighted intercepts included 2.7 metres at 7.6 grams per tonne gold-equivalent (containing both gold and a notable antimony component) from 269 metres, and a 10.1-metre interval at 2.2 grams per tonne gold-equivalent — results that the Company says confirm both the continuity and the expansion potential of the system.
Just as important as the assays is the work happening around them. RUA has shipped a one-tonne bulk sample of resource-grade mineralization to a specialist laboratory in Australia for advanced metallurgical testing, and is running a full suite of geotechnical and hydrological studies — rock strength, specific gravity, porosity, and water behavior — all designed to feed directly into the Pre-Feasibility Study. Scout drilling has also been mobilized to test the full 2,500-metre length of surface gold-arsenic-antimony soil anomalies, and a fifth drill rig is now turning at the Company's regional Alexander River and Big River targets. The vision behind that regional push is notable: RUA is working toward the long-term potential of multiple underground mines feeding a single central mill at Auld Creek.
"With the referral for Fast-Track application lodged and the PEA completed, the exploration team intensified the drill-out program, along with the extensive geotechnical data collection required to inform the PFS," said Robert Eckford, Chief Executive Officer of RUA GOLD. "It is exciting to see, at the half-way stage, the drilling progress ahead of schedule, infill drilling building the resource, and the aggressive plan towards development going to plan."
The Permitting Edge: A Fast-Track Jurisdiction
For junior mining developers, the gap between a promising deposit and an actual permit is where many projects stall for years. RUA is leaning on a distinctive advantage: New Zealand's Fast-Track approvals regime, designed to accelerate projects of regional or national significance. The Company has lodged a Fast-Track referral application for Auld Creek, with a decision from the New Zealand Government anticipated in July, and is targeting submission of a substantive permit application supported by the completed PFS. Management has pointed to the December 2025 Fast-Track approval of OceanaGold's Wharekirauponga gold project as reinforcing its confidence in the pathway.
The Company has backed that permitting push with unusual groundwork — more than 30 consultants and independent advisors supporting environmental, social, and economic assessments, and over 500 engagements with community members, stakeholders, and regulators since late 2025, including hosting government delegations for site visits. That kind of stakeholder engagement is precisely what a substantive permit application in a modern, environmentally conscious jurisdiction requires, and it signals a company treating permitting as a core part of the development strategy rather than an afterthought.
The Gold-Antimony Names Investors Are Watching
RUA sits within a small but increasingly closely watched group of gold-antimony developers riding the convergence of record gold prices and the antimony-security scramble. Looking at a few of the most prominent public names helps frame both the opportunity and the company RUA keeps.
Alkane Resources Limited (ASX: ALK) (TSX: ALK) is the closest producing analogue to what Auld Creek aspires to become. Following its 2025 merger with Mandalay Resources, the dual-listed company operates the Costerfield gold-antimony mine in Victoria, Australia — described as the largest antimony-producing mine in the Western world — alongside gold mines in New South Wales and Sweden. As an established, cash-generating gold-antimony producer, Alkane demonstrates the commercial destination of the dual-metal model RUA is pursuing, and how valuable Western antimony production has become as China's export controls tighten.
Southern Cross Gold Consolidated Ltd. (TSX: SXGC) (ASX: SX2) offers perhaps the closest exploration-stage comparison. The company is advancing its high-grade Sunday Creek gold-antimony project in Victoria, Australia, which has produced some of the most eye-catching gold-antimony drill results in the sector. As another developer pursuing the same dual-metal story in an allied jurisdiction, Southern Cross illustrates the strong investor appetite for high-grade gold-antimony discoveries that RUA is also tapping.
Larvotto Resources Limited (ASX: LRV) brings the near-term production angle. The company is advancing its Hillgrove gold-antimony project in New South Wales — one of the largest antimony deposits in the region — toward first production, positioning it as one of the closest-to-market antimony names in the Western-aligned world. Larvotto highlights the same Australasian, allied-jurisdiction gold-antimony opportunity that underpins RUA's Auld Creek, at a more advanced commercial stage.
NevGold Corp. (TSXV: NAU) (OTCQX: NAUFF) rounds out the group as a North American gold-antimony developer, advancing its Limousine Butte project in Nevada with a focus on near-surface, oxide antimony-gold mineralization. As another junior racing to define a gold-antimony resource amid the supply-security wave, NevGold underscores how broadly the theme has spread across allied jurisdictions — from Nevada to New South Wales to New Zealand. These companies are referenced to illustrate the sector and do not imply any partnership, endorsement, affiliation, or comparable financial performance; they differ in size, jurisdiction, and stage, and RUA is an exploration- and development-stage company advancing toward a Pre-Feasibility Study.
The Risks Behind the Story
The appeal is clear, but the risks deserve equal billing. RUA GOLD is an exploration- and development-stage company; Auld Creek has a Preliminary Economic Assessment and a defined mineral resource, but a PEA is an early-stage study based on assumptions that may not be realized, and the project has not yet advanced to a completed Pre-Feasibility Study, let alone a production decision. Drill results, however encouraging, are not reserves, and the resource-expansion the Company is pursuing is not guaranteed. The long road from a positive economic study to a permitted, financed, producing mine is precisely where many promising projects stall.
Permitting, while advantaged by the Fast-Track regime, is not assured — the referral decision and any subsequent substantive approval rest with the New Zealand Government and remain subject to environmental, regulatory, and community considerations. The economics depend on gold and antimony prices that are inherently volatile, and as a junior developer RUA will require ongoing access to capital to fund drilling, studies, permitting, and eventual development. Investors should weigh the genuine strategic appeal of a high-grade gold-antimony project in a stable jurisdiction against these meaningful execution, permitting, commodity-price, and financing risks.
Why the Trajectory Still Matters
For all those caveats, the larger current is unmistakable. Gold is trading at historic highs, antimony has become a critical-mineral flashpoint with the West racing to secure non-Chinese supply, and projects that can deliver both — in stable, allied, fast-tracked jurisdictions — sit squarely in the path of powerful market and policy tailwinds. RUA GOLD has assembled exactly that combination: a dominant position in a historic, high-grade goldfield; New Zealand's largest known antimony deposit; an around-the-clock drill program running ahead of schedule; and a permitting strategy built around a fast-track regime with a live decision expected within weeks.
Whether RUA can convert that momentum into a completed PFS, a permit, financing, and ultimately production will be decided over the coming years, through the drill bit, the study, and the regulatory process. The path is long and the risks are real. But the question the Company is organized around — whether a historic goldfield can be reborn as a source of both the precious metal investors prize and the critical mineral the West urgently needs — is exactly the kind of story the market is increasingly rewarding. For investors tracking where gold meets critical-minerals security, the quiet transformation underway in the Reefton Goldfield is one worth following closely.
CONTINUED … Learn more about RUA GOLD Inc. at: https://usanewsgroup.com/nzauf-landing/
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SOURCES:
[1] RUA GOLD Inc. — "RUA GOLD Presents Strong Progress on the Auld Creek Gold-Antimony Project in the Reefton Goldfield" (June 17, 2026; primary source for the drilling progress, 100th hole / ~10,000m of 19,000m, assay intercepts, PFS Q4 2026, Fast-Track decision timing, CEO Robert Eckford quote, QP Simon Henderson):
https://ruagold.com/news/
[2] RUA GOLD Inc. — "RUA GOLD Announces Positive PEA for the Auld Creek Gold-Antimony Project in Reefton, New Zealand" (Newsfile, May 5, 2026; PEA economics, ~27koz AuEq/yr over 5.5 yrs, ~147koz LOM, Fast-Track referral filed April 20, fully-permitted target Q2 2027):
https://ruagold.com/rua-gold-announces-positive-pea-for-the-auld-creek-gold-antimony-project-in-reefton-new-zealand/
[3] RUA GOLD Inc. — "RUA GOLD Files 43-101 Technical Reports for the Reefton and Glamorgan Projects in New Zealand" (March 4, 2026; Auld Creek MRE, AuEq formula, Reefton district 2Moz @ 9-50 g/t, Glamorgan):
https://ruagold.com/rua-gold-files-43-101-technical-reports-for-the-reefton-and-glamorgan-projects-in-new-zealand/
[4] Alkane Resources Limited — Costerfield gold-antimony operations and Mandalay Resources merger (2025–2026; dual ASX/TSX listing, largest antimony-producing mine in the Western world; producing-peer context):
https://www.juniorminingnetwork.com/market-data/stock-quote/alkane-resources.html
[5] The Northern Miner — gold-antimony sector coverage (peer context: Alkane Resources ALK / Costerfield, Southern Cross Gold SXGC/SX2, Larvotto Resources LRV; China antimony export controls, critical-mineral status):
https://www.northernminer.com/company/perpetua-resources/
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