Gateway hits end-of-hole gold at WA Yandal play

Gateway Mining has hit paydirt with a broad, shallow gold intercept from aircore drilling at its Yandal gold project in Western Australia, with a 32-metre hit at 1.1g grams per tonne (g/t) gold, ending in mineralisation and extending the prospect by 500m to the north.

The latest result came from just 20m downhole at the company’s Mustang prospect within the extensive Yandal package and included a higher-grade 8m core running 2.1g/t gold.

Crucially, the drill bit was still in the money when the hole hit the harder, fresh primary rock and halted, pointing to the potential for further mineralisation at depth within a previously untested shear zone for Gateway.

The new hit now extends high-grade mineralisation 500m along strike into the under-drilled area, pushing the defined strike length of the Mustang prospect to at least 900m.

Management says the mineralisation is hosted in a newly identified splay structure that peels off the primary Mustang shear zone.

The company believes the hole may have been driven into a brand-new high-grade lode, opening to the north into what is known as a dilation zone – a geological setting often associated with thicker and higher-grade mineralisation.

The result has also provided a better understanding of the local geology, with around 4km of strike length still untested.

Gateway now believes its previous drilling further north was not pushed far enough east to properly test a raft of newly defined structures.

It’s now clear that our previous drilling hasn’t been drilled eastward enough on regional lines to properly test this structure. Additional holes have now been planned to vector into the dilation zone, further strengthening the more than 6km Eastern Gold Trend.

Gateway’s Yandal project sits about 85km northeast of Wiluna, covering a sprawling 1780-square-kilometre footprint along the eastern edge of the highly endowed Yandal Greenstone Belt.

The belt ranks among Australia’s most productive gold terrains, notably hosting Northern Star Resources’ nearby 10-million-ounce-plus Jundee operation.

Across its wider Yandal ground, Gateway has already defined a resource of 8.17 million tonnes grading 1.52g/t for 400,400 ounces of gold. Centred on the Horse Well Gold Camp and the Dusk ’til Dawn deposit, the inventory provides a robust platform for further discovery and growth.

With a better handle on the structural controls, the company has already launched additional hole planning to test an additional 800m of strike to the north.

While the Mustang results are more than encouraging, plenty of eyes remain peeled on its Great Western prospect, another of the company’s prime targets at Yandal, where drilling is currently ongoing.

The company says it is awaiting a torrent of assays from some 18,000m of drilling at Great Western, with the first results expected to start rolling in within a fortnight.

With Mustang now growing into a meaningful second discovery front, Gateway appears to be entering a potentially pivotal phase at Yandal.

A broad landholding, growing resource base and multiple live targets give the company plenty of shots on goal.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au