Exploration company Gateway Mining has significantly intensified its search for gold at its flagship Yandal project, located 85 kilometres northeast of Wiluna in Western Australia. Fresh aircore drilling results have confirmed substantial high-grade gold mineralisation along a trend that includes the company's emerging Mustang-Pony prospects, marking a major step forward for the venture.
Drilling Defines Major Gold-Hosting Structures
The ongoing campaign continues to outline two primary geological features: the regional-scale Celia Shear to the west and the Mustang Shear to the east. Both structures are now clearly linked to gold mineralisation. Wide-spaced aircore lines, set at 200-metre and 400-metre intervals, have successfully intersected the targeted mafic-intermediate rock contact along the Celia Shear. The standout bottom-of-hole results point to a robust mineralised system.
Key intercepts that have excited geologists include:
- 2 metres grading 3.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 148 metres depth to the end of the hole, contained within a broader 6-metre section averaging 1.4g/t gold from 144 metres.
- A second hole returned 16 metres at 1g/t gold from 136 metres, including a higher-grade zone of 4 metres at 2.9g/t gold from 148 metres.
- A third hole, still within the oxide zone, delivered 8 metres grading 1.2g/t gold from 92 metres, including 4 metres at 2g/t gold from 96 metres.
The higher-grade zones in the first two holes, which are spaced 100 metres apart, represent intercepts that successfully pierced the Celia Shear structure, confirming its potential to host significant gold. Drilling has also intersected the same structure a further 200 metres to the south, indicating the trend remains open and is expanding, with assays from this area still pending.
Mustang Shear Shows Extensive Anomalism
Just one kilometre east of the Celia Shear, wide-spaced aircore drilling on the parallel Mustang Shear has defined anomalous gold in weathered rock (saprolite) over a strike length of more than 2.5 kilometres. This trend remains open to both the north and south, with the key mineralised contact largely untested at depth, offering substantial exploration upside.
According to Gateway Mining executive chairman Andrew Bray, drilling across both shear structures continues to demonstrate widespread gold anomalism. He highlighted that on the Celia structure, hole MPAC187 intersected 2m @ 3.4g/t Au in fresh rock in its final two metres, while 300 metres to the south, MPAC231 hit the same structure with 4m @ 2.9g/t Au, also in fresh rock near the end of the hole.
Drilling along more than 8 kilometres of the known Mustang trend has consistently bracketed the key shear zone. This success has prompted Gateway to fast-track tighter infill aircore drilling on multiple lines. The goal is to pinpoint the contact more accurately ahead of follow-up reverse circulation (RC) drilling programmes.
Well-Funded for an Aggressive Follow-Up
The company reports that ongoing multi-element analysis at the bottom of holes, combined with historic data, is refining the geological map. This work highlights mafic-intermediate contacts that show a direct link to high-grade mineralisation identified at Gateway's recently acquired Horse Well gold camp.
Geologists are particularly encouraged by the structural complexity of the Mustang Shear, especially in the underexplored southern area where it converges with the Celia Shear. The flexures and complexities here are believed to have created prime structural traps that could host large-scale gold systems.
With two rigs mobilising to the project shortly – one for infill drilling around stronger anomalism and the other to step out systematically to the south – Gateway is ramping up the hunt. Follow-up RC drilling will then target the refined shear zones once they are mapped in greater detail.
The company is well-funded for this aggressive exploration push. It held $13 million in cash and liquid assets at the end of the September quarter, bolstered by a post-quarter capital raise of $22.5 million. This strong financial position allows Gateway to vigorously chase this emerging system in one of Western Australia's most prospective gold belts.
Early positive signs are accumulating convincingly. The combination of high grades in fresh rock, open mineralised trends, and clear geological ties to proven gold camps is putting the Yandal fringe area firmly on the radar as a potential new Eastern Goldfields discovery.
