Tundulu Rare Earths Project, Malawi | ASX: AKN | 15 September 2026

Two holes planned to 300 metres finished at 510.6m and 400.4m, both still in carbonatite. The Board’s answer is a hole nearly twice as deep as anything ever drilled at Tundulu, and it sits inside the existing budget.

The decision follows directly from what the drill has been doing. Hole 26NH032 was planned as a 150m diamond tail beneath an RC hole, for 300m in total. Carbonatite kept being logged, so it was extended, and it finished at 510.6m with the lithology still open. The second hole, 26NH023, followed the same pattern and finished at 400.4m, again in carbonatite.

Two holes designed to reach 300m both ran out of plan before they ran out of rock. That is the entire rationale for the 1,000m hole in one sentence. The company has drilled the system twice and has not yet found its base, so the only way to establish the vertical extent is to drill well past where the current holes stopped.

Toggle the chart below to see how far the first two holes ran beyond their original design.

Tundulu is not a new discovery. The Japan International Cooperation Agency surveyed the Chilwa alkaline province in 1987 and identified three carbonatites worth pursuing: Kangankunde, Songwe Hill and Tundulu. What happened next is the interesting part.

JICA drilled Tundulu harder than either of the others, 1,204.8m across 24 holes against 558.95m at Songwe Hill and no drilling at all at Kangankunde. Songwe Hill and Kangankunde were then taken forward to delineated resources by Mkango Resources and Lindian Resources respectively. Tundulu, the most drilled of the three in 1987, is the one that stayed comparatively unexplored for the next four decades.

AuKing has already drilled roughly four and a half times the historical JICA program at Tundulu, and the single approved hole is close to the whole of it.

It changes what a resource can eventually look like. A maiden estimate built on 150m RC holes describes a shallow blanket. Geological control to 1,000m is what allows a company to talk about a system rather than a surface expression, and the company has already said the extension of carbonatite to substantial depths indicates the complex may be significantly larger than previously interpreted.

It signals conviction rather than caution. A 1,000m diamond hole is an expensive, slow piece of drilling that returns one line of data. Committing to it after four holes of assays, and funding it inside an existing budget, is a statement about how the Board reads the results so far.

It tests the part of the system nobody has seen. Every metre of assayed rock at Tundulu to date comes from the top 150m. The two deep holes proved carbonatite continues, but their assays are still pending. The 1,000m hole extends that question by another 500 metres.

Source: AuKing Mining Limited (ASX: AKN), “Major 1,000m Diamond Hole Planned at Tundulu”, released to the ASX on 15 September 2026, together with the company’s releases of 17 August, 31 August, 1 September and 14 September 2026. Historical drilling figures are from the Japan International Cooperation Agency report on the cooperative mineral exploration in the Chilwa alkaline area, March 1988, as reproduced in the 15 September announcement. Peer project valuations are as cited by AuKing.

This article is third-party analysis of publicly released information. Interpretations and any view on the significance of the drilling decision are our own. Forward-looking statements, including the planned hole, the drilling program and a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate, reflect the company’s stated intentions and are subject to risks outside its control. Exploration results are not a resource and do not indicate that an economic deposit exists. This is general information only. It is not investment advice, does not account for any individual’s objectives or circumstances, and must not be relied on as the basis for an investment decision. Readers should consult the full ASX announcements and seek independent financial advice.