Brought to you by BULLS N’ BEARS
Rowena Duckworth
Gateway Mining has added another attractive piece to its growing Yandal gold puzzle, unveiling shallow gold mineralisation at a newly defined prospect known as Hummer, just west of the company’s Haflinger discovery in Western Australia.
The early results have come from wide-spaced aircore drilling targeting a structural splay off the regionally significant Celia Shear Zone – the same fertile architecture that underpins much of the company’s gold endowment across its Horse Well gold camp.
Gateway’s first pass has already delivered oxide gold intercepts, highlighted by 16 metres at 1.0 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 64m, featuring a higher-grade 4-metre thick domain running at 2.7g/t gold.
Notably, those shallow oxide hits came from just two drill lines spaced 400 metres apart. The extent of the mineralisation bears strong similarities to the northernmost aircore intercepts at Gateway’s nearby Haflinger discovery, suggesting the company may be sitting on the fringes of a much larger mineralised system.
‘Our systematic approach to exploration through the Celia-Mustang area is continuing to yield very significant results.’
Gateway Mining executive chairman Andrew Bray
Historical drilling in the area barely scratched the surface, with most holes stopping in the depletion zone and never reaching the key shear-hosted targets now being unlocked by Gateway’s more systematic approach.
Within the Yandal camp, stacked mineralised gold veins tend to develop along sheared contacts between intermediate volcanics, mafic volcanic units and intrusive margins. This is a classic signature for Yilgarn-style shear-hosted gold systems, with the same geological architecture seemingly present at Hummer.
Data modelling shows that Hummer sits on a flexed segment of a splay structure branching from the main Celia Shear Zone. The flexure is critical as it creates dilation zones that act as pressure-release valves for gold-bearing fluids.
Significantly, around 4km of strike length remains untested. Magnetic imagery shows stronger structural bending further south, where a northeast-trending fault offsets the splay structure. Gateway believes this area could host enhanced dilation and potentially higher-grade gold as drilling steps out along strike.
The company has already added 52 additional aircore holes to its ongoing two-rig drilling campaign to infill and extend the Hummer footprint north and south. Notably, no drilling to date has intersected the target shear zone in fresh rock, leaving plenty of blue-sky upside once deeper and more focused drilling begins.
Gateway Mining executive chairman Andrew Bray said: “Our systematic approach to exploration through the Celia-Mustang area is continuing to yield very significant results, and we look forward to discovering further major zones of gold mineralisation as drilling continues southwards through the broader project area.”
Gateway’s Yandal project lies 85 kilometres northeast of Wiluna and spans a vast 1,780 square kilometre patch on the eastern flank of the world-class Yandal Greenstone Belt. This belt is one of Australia’s most prolific gold-producing regions and home to Northern Star Resources’ nearby Jundee mine.
Jundee has been a cornerstone operation in the region since mining began 30 years ago, producing gold from both underground and open-pit operations. Its success has long underlined the prospectivity of the Yandal Greenstone Belt, particularly for Archaean, high-grade, narrow-vein lode-style deposits.
Gateway’s broader Yandal project already hosts an inventory of 8.17 million tonnes at 1.52 grams per tonne gold for 400,400 ounces. The resource is centred on the Horse Well Gold Camp and the Dusk ’til Dawn deposit and provides a solid foundation for ongoing exploration success.
The company’s growth push at Yandal is backed by a strong balance sheet, with $19.4 million in cash and a further $9.3 million in liquid ASX-listed securities as at the end of the December quarter. Gateway says that firepower gives it ample runway to aggressively test multiple targets across the broader Celia–Mustang trend this year.
With gold prices hovering near record highs and majors increasingly hungry for quality ounces in safe jurisdictions, Gateway’s emerging discoveries near Haflinger are shaping up as more than just geological curiosities.
If Hummer continues to deliver as drilling tightens up, the company may well be on its way to defining the next meaningful gold system in the Yandal belt.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
