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Rowena Duckworth
Gateway Mining has fired up the drill bit at its flagship Yandal gold project in Western Australia, bringing forward exploration plans to accelerate definition of the emerging Haflinger discovery and line up follow-up reverse circulation (RC) drilling in the coming weeks.
The rods off two aircore rigs are now turning, with the first rig focused on infill and step-out drilling around Haflinger, where mineralisation has already been intersected over a strike length of approximately 500 metres. Initial drilling results have highlighted the system’s strength, despite several holes only clipping the targeted structure during first-pass programs.
Standout intercepts from earlier drilling at Haflinger included a hefty 52 metres running at 1.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 64 metres, including a higher-grade interval of 12m at a cool 3.1g/t gold.
That campaign also returned 2m at 3.4g/t gold from 148m to bottom of hole, within a broader 6m grading 1.4g/t gold from 144m, and 4m going 2.9g/t gold from 148m within a broader 16m at 1.0g/t gold from 136m.
Gateway says the mineralisation tends to occur within a highly favourable structural setting, where the mafic–intermediate rock contact flexes to the south-east.
Notably, drilling remains open to the south, where geological conditions appear to be improving, adding further upside to the discovery.
‘… Drilling remains open to the south, where the geology appears to become more favourable.’
Gateway Mining executive chairman Andrew Bray
The first aircore rig is set to complete closer-spaced drilling to the north and south of existing intercepts to delineate the structure ahead of RC drilling. Management believes this next phase of drilling will be key to understanding the true scale of the Haflinger system.
Meanwhile, the second aircore rig will systematically test the Mustang shear structure to the south, where Gateway is confident of making discoveries similar to Haflinger. Mustang offers a comparable geological setting, with significant deformation and complexity, supported by historic rotary air blast (RAB) drilling that returned anomalous gold results; however, it failed to penetrate the weathered profile adequately.
The company is keen to complete first pass drilling at Mustang as quickly as possible, allowing any discoveries to be rapidly followed up with RC drilling alongside Haflinger. Drilling plans have been ramped up to define the extent of the Haflinger discovery in preparation for follow-up RC drilling.
Gateway Mining executive chairman Andrew Bray said: “Mineralisation at Haflinger has been intersected over approximately a 500m strike length to date, with the first two aircore holes clipping the targeted structure prior to blade refusal, and a third hole returning a spectacular result of 52m at 1.4g/t gold, including 12m at 3.1g/t gold. Drilling remains open to the south, where the geology appears to become more favourable.”
The Haflinger find emerged from wide-spaced, shallow aircore along the company’s regional-scale Celia Shear structure, tapping into the same fertile structure that hosts the company’s existing 400,400-ounce, high-grade gold resource.
RC drilling is scheduled to kick off in a little over six weeks. It will initially focus on the Great Western area, where widespread surface gold anomalism and abundant gold nuggets have been identified over a broad area within a highly favourable geological setting.
As soon as the all-important assay results from the broader Mustang–Celia shear corridor aircore program hit the company inbox, drilling will pivot to initial RC programs at Haflinger and to any additional discoveries warranting follow-up.
The Yandal project sits strategically just 85 kilometres northeast of Wiluna, spanning a vast 1,780 square kilometres on the eastern flank of the world-class Yandal Greenstone Belt. The belt is one of Australia’s most prolific gold-producing regions and is home to Northern Star Resources’ Jundee mine, which lies within close proximity to Gateway’s tenure.
Gateway’s broader Yandal project already hosts a resource of 8.17 million tonnes grading 1.52g/t gold for 400,400 ounces. The resource is centred on the Horse Well Gold Camp and the Dusk ’til Dawn deposit, providing a solid foundation for ongoing exploration success.
With gold prices soaring, Gateway is wasting little time in pushing its Yandal gold strategy forward as it hunts for the next significant discovery in one of Western Australia’s most prolific gold belts.
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