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Murray Ward
Gateway Mining has defined a new 3km-long, high-priority gold target at its Yandal Gold Project in Western Australia that it says is a dead ringer for its recent high-grade Cowza discovery. With over $60 million in the bank after a recent capital raise, the company is now set to kick off a first-pass aircore drilling program at the new โPewyโ target next month.
The Pewy target was picked up through a combination of airborne magnetics, structural interpretation and recent aircore drilling. Management says the core of the target is a three kilometre-long demagnetised structural corridor, 15 kilometres south of Cowza, that remains completely untested by drilling.
Notably, the Gateway says the target sits along the same prospective contact between mafic and intermediate volcanic rocks that hosts high-grade gold at its nearby Cowza, Celia South and Ward prospects.
The company says the geological setting at Pewy closely mirrors the companyโs Cowza discovery, which delivered a stunning 41-metre intersection grading two grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 104m, including a rich nine-metre core at 7.5g/t gold from 105m. The similarities hint at the potential for a significant new gold discovery along the prospective Celia Shear zone, which forms part of the prolific Yandal greenstone belt.
โThe identification of Pewy as a Cowza look-alike highlights the significant untapped discovery potential across our Yandal gold project.โ
Gateway Mining chief executive officer Richard Pugh
While the core of the Pewy target is yet to see a drill bit, first-pass aircore drilling on its flanks has already confirmed gold mineralisation. An eight-metre intercept grading 1g/t gold was returned immediately south of the targetโs demagnetised zone, while another hole just to the north hit 4m at 1.4g/t gold.
Gateway says the results from either side of the untested zone provide a compelling geological target, with the gold tenor appearing to strengthen towards the undrilled 3km-long corridor at the heart of Pewy.
The new target sits at the southern end of an emerging mineralised trend that could stretch for some 30km, running from Celia South through Cowza and Ward before extending into the untested 3km Pewy corridor. Gateway says the combined trend has the potential to host multiple mineralised centres and offers the company a significant gold opportunity at its Yandal project.
Gateway Mining chief executive officer Richard Pugh said: โThe identification of Pewy as a Cowza look-alike highlights the significant untapped discovery potential that continues to emerge across our Yandal gold project. What is particularly exciting is that first-pass aircore drilling has already confirmed gold mineralisation along the prospective mafic-intermediate contact on both sides of the target, with results appearing to strengthen towards the 3km-long demagnetised zone. This zone remains completely untested by drilling.โ
The regional-scale Yandal greenstone belt is a richly blessed piece of real estate that hosts a picnic basket of multi-million-ounce gold deposits, including the nearby Jundee, Bronzewing and Darlot mines. The Celia shear underpins the alignment of Gatewayโs prospects, which also include the companyโs Dusk โtil Dawn gold campโs 108,900 ounces of gold, the Horse Well gold campโs 291,500 ounces and its Palomino deposit, which hosts 129,500 ounces.
The company says historical drilling in the district appears to have largely missed the main prize by focusing on secondary footwall structures, leaving the primary mineralised corridor almost entirely untested by deeper reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling until now.
Gateway is certainly well-funded to find out. A recently completed $45 million placement, on top of an existing cash and liquids balance of $15.1 million, provides a formidable funding platform to aggressively chase down its targets.
Gateway is set to kick off a 120,000-metre RC and diamond drilling campaign across Cowza, Celia South, Ward, Haflinger, Dusk โtil Dawn and Horse Well, in addition to resource estimation work and regional exploration at its Glenburgh South and Barrelmaker projects.
With a war chest that would make a West Perth miner blush and a textbook geological target screaming to be drilled, Gateway isnโt just knocking on the door of a new discovery โ it looks to be relentlessly kicking it in. The rods are set to start spinning at Pewy and its other prospects next month and punters will likely be keeping a close eye on what the drill bit might reveal.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
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