Underground development has commenced for the stage 1 exploration phase. Development will consist of two ore drives and dedicated drill drives to provide drilling  platforms to enable infill drilling to be completed. Once completed, this drilling will allow a reserve estimate to be carried out. Currently there are no ore reserves at Red October. The drilling from surface is not of sufficient density to allow a confident ore reserve to be estimated, the stage 1 phase will not only provide drilling locations from underground but also a bulk sample of the mineralisation for processing at the Carosue Dam plant. Surface drilling is restricted by the deposits location on Lake Carey.

A total program of 30,000m of underground diamond drilling has been planned. This drilling will commence later in 2011 when development of the first drill drive has been completed.

      ^{View of the Red October pit with planned stage 1 underground development and proposed drill holes in red.}