Oracle Power PLC (AIM: ORCP) moved another step closer to potential gold production on September 14 after the remaining objections to two haul-road licence applications at the Northern Zone Gold Project were resolved. The licences, L25/75 and L25/77, can now advance toward formal grant, giving the project the legal corridor needed to move ore beyond the mining lease boundary and connect with roads leading to third-party processing facilities around Kalgoorlie. Oracle Power said it remains on track to lodge the project’s Mine Development and Closure Proposal later in September, describing that document as the final operating approval required before mining can begin.
The announcement generated a positive market response, although the microcap nature of Oracle Power makes percentage movements particularly volatile. Delayed London Stock Exchange data showed the shares around 0.045p during the session, approximately 5.9% higher, with a market capitalisation of about £7.6 million. The quoted spread remained very wide, however, meaning investors should be cautious about treating relatively small moves in the displayed price as precise measures of institutional conviction.
Why do Oracle Power’s haul-road licences matter so much to the Northern Zone Gold Project?
The importance of L25/75 and L25/77 is practical rather than cosmetic. Northern Zone already has Mining Lease M25/389 covering the proposed pit, but that lease does not itself give the project authority to construct and operate the road infrastructure needed to transport ore outside the mining-tenement boundary. Under Western Australian mining legislation, miscellaneous licences are the relevant tenure for infrastructure such as haul roads and can be granted for periods of up to 21 years.
Resolving the objections therefore removes a bottleneck between possessing the mining lease and being able to physically operate the project. Oracle Power said the licences will connect Northern Zone to gazetted roads and ultimately to third-party treatment facilities, an important feature of the planned development model because the project is not currently being built around a large standalone processing plant.
The remaining major regulatory step is the Mine Development and Closure Proposal. Oracle Power said it intends to submit the MDCP to Western Australia’s Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration during September. A Native Vegetation Clearing Permit application has also already been submitted, while the mining lease itself was granted in July for a 21-year term extending to July 2047.
How much gold potential does Northern Zone actually have, and how speculative is the headline number?
Northern Zone sits approximately 25 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie within Western Australia’s Eastern Goldfields. The project has previously been associated with an Exploration Target of 200 million to 250 million tonnes grading approximately 0.4 to 0.6 grams per tonne of gold, implying a conceptual range of roughly 2.5 million to 4.8 million ounces. That number is potentially large, but investors should not treat it as a Mineral Resource because an Exploration Target remains conceptual and further drilling is required before its quantity and grade can be established with resource-level confidence.
Recent drilling has nevertheless provided encouraging shallow-gold evidence. Oracle Power reported in April that assays from a 31-hole programme included 15 metres at 5.62 grams per tonne gold from 48 metres and 8 metres at 9.90 grams per tonne from 48 metres, alongside individual metre assays reaching as high as 71 grams per tonne. The company said the programme represented some of the strongest combinations of grade and width encountered at Northern Zone to date.
That matters for the near-term mining concept because the project’s current development pathway appears focused on a smaller shallow operation rather than immediately attempting to monetise the entire conceptual gold system. In other words, the multi-million-ounce Exploration Target provides geological optionality, while permitting and mine-planning work is concentrating on something potentially more achievable in the nearer term.
Who is actually funding Northern Zone, and what economics remain for Oracle Power shareholders?
Northern Zone is 80% owned by Riversgold Limited and 20% by Oracle Power. Development and mining are being advanced with Mega Resources under a mining and cooperation structure announced in 2025, under which Mega Resources is expected to provide the required development and mining funding. The operating profits are then subject to a 50/50 arrangement with Mega Resources.
The distinction is important for ORCP investors. Oracle Power’s 20% project ownership does not translate directly into 20% of mining profits once the funding arrangement is accounted for. Oracle Power’s annual report explains that after Mega Resources receives its 50% profit share, Oracle Power is effectively entitled to 10% of the profits generated from Northern Zone under the existing Riversgold ownership structure.
That may appear smaller than the 20% headline interest, but the trade-off is important: Oracle Power is being carried toward development rather than needing to fund 20% of mine construction itself. For a company whose equity valuation remains below £10 million, avoiding a major project-capital requirement is arguably central to the investment thesis.
What should ORCP investors watch after the September 14 permitting breakthrough?
The next milestone is unusually clear. Submission and eventual approval of the MDCP would move Northern Zone from permitting progress toward an executable mining plan, while formal grant of the haul-road miscellaneous licences would complete another necessary piece of operating infrastructure. Investors should also watch mine scheduling, grade-control data and any information showing expected tonnes, grades, recovery assumptions and the economics of third-party processing.
The biggest valuation question is no longer whether Northern Zone contains interesting gold mineralisation. Drilling has already demonstrated that. The more consequential question is whether Oracle Power and its partners can convert the shallow mineralisation into a low-capital mining operation that generates meaningful cash relative to Oracle Power’s small market value.
The September 14 announcement reduces permitting risk, but it does not eliminate geological, operating or economic risk. The Exploration Target remains conceptual, the project has yet to enter production and final cash economics have not been disclosed. Even so, clearing the road-access objections and moving toward the final operating proposal makes Northern Zone materially more advanced than it was earlier in 2026.
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