Ark Mines Limited has announced that it has secured a drilling contract with Australian Exploration Drilling to advance the next stage at its Sandy Mitchell Rare Earth and Heavy Minerals project in North Queensland. The contract covers a planned 2,500‐meter drill program designed to expand the current Measured Mineral Resource of 71.8 million tonnes at 1,732.7 ppm Monazite Equivalent. The program, which marks the third phase in the resource definition campaign, will focus on delineating an additional 260 million tonnes of resource, building on the success of previous drilling efforts. The drill plan calls for 194 vertical holes, each spaced 280 meters apart in a staggered grid pattern on 16 drill lines. This layout covers 15.7 square kilometers in new areas beyond the existing 4.1 square kilometers of resource estimates, resulting in a total grid coverage of 19.8 square kilometers. The drilling method will combine air core drilling through the sandy overburden with reverse circulation to reach bedrock, ensuring that each hole is extended by one meter into the bedrock to capture the full extent of the mineralisation. Previous programs indicate an average depth of around 12.5 meters, a figure that is expected to hold for this phase as well. Management at Ark Mines Limited expressed confidence in the potential for a significant uplift in project economics when the enhanced resource is incorporated into a comprehensive Pre-Feasibility Study, scheduled for completion in early calendar year 2026. The upcoming assay results from this drill campaign will be supplemented by data from a recently commissioned metallurgy program, strengthening the basis for robust economic assessments. This progress comes on the back of a recent $1.5 million placement, which has helped to secure additional funding from professional investors. Bullish sentiment around the news is bolstered by the company’s strategic move to expand its resource base through an efficient and methodologically sound drilling program. The positive track record from earlier drilling stages and the potential to position Sandy Mitchell as a leading asset in rare earth and heavy minerals add to investor optimism. The integration of new drilling data with metallurgy analysis is also seen as a strong catalyst for improved project economics and clearer pathways to commercialisation through low-cost downstream processing. Conversely, bearish perspectives point to inherent uncertainties in forward-looking projects. The reliance on drilling results and future assay data introduces execution risks, while the ambitious expansion targets depend on the consistency of mineralisation encountered. Additionally, the upcoming Pre-Feasibility Study and ongoing metallurgical investigations, while promising, still require validation in a volatile market environment where resource estimates can be influenced by broader economic and operational factors.