Gateway Mining (ASX:GML) has commenced reverse circulation (RC) drilling at its Yandal Gold Project in Western Australia, with a second rig scheduled to arrive next week.
The first rig is testing the area around the Haflinger discovery hole, which returned 64m @ 1.20 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) from 56m, including 24m @ 2.40g/t Au.
It will then move to Great Western, where previous drilling identified a gold-mineralised dolerite unit extending for 4km and what Gateway interprets as an epithermal system.
The second rig will initially drill Cowza and Celia South, targeting contacts between mafic and intermediate rocks that the company says host ‘high-grade’ gold mineralisation.
CEO Richard Pugh says the rigs will test the extent of mineralisation at the company’s main targets in fresh rock.
“Both rigs are focused on scoping out the extents of the mineralised footprints at our key targets in fresh rock. Depending on how this drilling proceeds, the Company may elect to add an additional rig this quarter to aid in planning for future resource definition/growth drilling,” Pugh says.
The RC campaign follows 10 months of aircore drilling across Yandal, which generated targets including Haflinger, Great Western, Cowza, Celia South, Rubicon, Hummer, and Mustang.
Gateway plans to end the aircore program in late July after testing key structural corridors across the project. Further aircore results from Cowza, Cowza North, and Ward are expected shortly.
The company says it is initially using RC drilling to establish the scale of the mineralised areas before potentially moving to resource growth and definition drilling later this year.
At the end of March quarter, Gateway reported $15.7 million in cash and $5.6 million in liquid ASX-listed securities to fund its planned 2026 exploration program.
Write to France Pinzon at Mining.com.au
Images: Gateway Mining
