Analysis: what the assay table settles and what it leaves open
The headline average of 42.8 g/t is a statement about grade, not about volume. Every reported interval sits between 0.50 and 1.18 metres, which is the defining constraint of a narrow-vein operation: the mine has to develop and stope precisely enough to deliver those centimetres to the mill without diluting them. Confirming that the Main Vein carries high grade in the Mountain Block is useful for stope design, but on its own it changes nothing about tonnes.
The more informative number is the one MRE5 published two weeks later. Indicated contained gold rose 10.6 percent to 174 koz while the resource was depleted for surveyed mining voids through 1 December 2025, which is the test of whether infill drilling replaces what mining removes. Classification, not discovery, is the binding constraint at Nalunaq. Bara’s notes state that the MB HG2 domain holds 61.7kt at 87.89g/t Au for approximately 174.3koz and remains entirely Inferred because of current drill coverage. That single domain carries about as much contained gold as the whole Indicated category, and only drill density moves it.
Two things in the 16 July release are unresolved rather than favourable. The 500 Level programme is the largest of the three by metres drilled and by samples submitted, and none of its assays had been received, so most of the reported metreage has not yet produced grades. The channel sampling between Levels 804 and 996 was in the same position, with visible gold observed but nothing assayed. A reader should also note that some published intersections rest on onsite Aqua Regia results pending fire assay confirmation.
Drilling also does not touch the gap between grade in the ground and gold in the vault. Amaroq reported first-half recoveries of 63 percent against a post-flotation run rate it expects to reach approximately 90 to 95 percent, and MRE5 assumes 94 percent recovery in its cut-off calculation. The near-term items to watch are the 500 Level assays, the channel sample results, the first drilling from the 810 Exploration Drift, and whether the technical studies Amaroq says MRE5 supports produce a maiden mineral reserve.
What the documents say
Amaroq Ltd. (AIM: AMRQ) released a further set of underground drilling results from the Nalunaq gold mine in southern Greenland on 16 July 2026, reporting an average of 42.8 g/t gold from intersections in the Main Vein within the Mountain Block. The announcement covered three recently completed underground programmes, assays from 37 holes, and a plan to move the rig into ground the company has not previously been able to test.
Grade and continuity in the Mountain Block
Amaroq said 16 of the 37 holes with assays returned better than 30 g/t gold, which it described as the average resource grade in MRE4, and that 30 percent of holes came in above 60 g/t. The strongest intersections were 132.5 g/t over 0.50 metres in hole NAL-UG-2601 and 132.0 g/t over 0.50 metres in NAL-UG-2640, followed by 113.5 g/t over 0.60 metres in NAL-UG-2534, 104.5 g/t over 0.54 metres in NAL-UG-2616 and 84.8 g/t over 0.83 metres in NAL-UG-2627. Most rows in the published table report intervals of 0.50 metres. The widest reported intersections were 1.18 metres at 52.2 g/t in NAL-UG-2608 and 1.13 metres at 15.4 g/t in NAL-UG-2624.
The assay basis matters at these grades. Amaroq said all core samples were prepared and analysed by ALS Geochemistry’s onsite laboratory at the mine using Aqua Regia digestion with Atomic Absorption Spectrometry, and that most mineralised intervals were also sent to ALS Geochemistry in Loughrea, Ireland, for conventional fire assay. At the date of the announcement several of the reported intersections were supported by Aqua Regia results only, with independent fire assay verification still in progress. The company said its quality control programme inserts certified reference materials, blanks and duplicates, and that no material issues had been identified.
The programme behind the assay table
Three underground programmes stood behind the results. Drilling from the 802 Level covered 2,164.5 metres in 27 holes with 711 samples submitted, and drilling from the 773 Level covered 589.5 metres in 10 holes with 158 samples. Both were designed to raise geological confidence in 27 and 10 planned stopes respectively before mining reaches them. A third programme on the 500 Level covered 3,102.9 metres in 30 holes with 1,064 samples, and its assays were still pending. That programme tested the geological model between interpreted faulted domains, in ground where definitive stopes have not yet been designed. The level numbers refer to metres above sea level.
Amaroq framed the work as an operating routine rather than an exploration campaign. It said the strategy is built to keep a rolling 12 to 24 month production inventory drilled ahead of mining, and that geological confidence is raised through underground drilling, face mapping, channel sampling, development and production reconciliation rather than through historical resource drilling alone. After the current programme the rig moves to the 810 Level, first to firm up the western stopes of the near-term mine plan and then to drill from a planned 810 Exploration Drift into parts of the Main Vein that surface drilling has struggled to reach because of the geometry of the deposit.
A separate surface programme was running at the same time. Mountaineering-supported channel sampling between roughly Level 804 and Level 996 is targeting both the Main Vein and the 75 Vein, which becomes more exposed towards the upper parts of the mine. Assays were pending, though the company said a number of channel samples showed significant visible gold.
What followed in the same fortnight
Amaroq said the July intersections fall after the data cut-off used for its fifth mineral resource estimate, and that the timing of MRE5 had been aligned with a planned London Stock Exchange Main Market uplisting. Both arrived within a fortnight. On 29 July 2026 the company published MRE5, prepared by Bara Consulting Ltd. with an effective date of 1 December 2025, reporting total mineral resources of 504 koz of contained gold at 30.35 g/t Au, comprising 174 koz Indicated at 33.20 g/t in 163,300t and 329 koz Inferred at 29.03 g/t in 352,800t. Against MRE4, which had an effective date of 23 February 2025, Indicated contained gold rose 10.6 percent from 158 koz and total contained gold rose 4.1 percent from 484 koz. The estimate uses a cut-off grade of 5.52 g/t Au based on a gold price of US$3,000/oz, recovery of 94 percent, mining cost of US$164/t and processing cost of US$160/t. No mineral reserves have been declared for Nalunaq.
On 31 July 2026 the common shares were admitted to the equity shares (commercial companies) category of the FCA’s Official List and to trading on the Main Market, and cancelled from AIM, with 466,244,132 shares in issue at admission and no new shares offered. On 13 August 2026 Amaroq reported first-half production of 8,985 oz at an average feed grade of 19.8 g/t and recoveries of 63 percent, against full-year guidance of 25 to 35 koz.
