Gateway Mining has significantly escalated its gold exploration efforts in Western Australia's Yandal project, deploying a second diamond drill rig to the site northeast of Wiluna as fresh gold nugget discoveries point to untapped potential.
Dual Drill Rigs Boost Exploration Campaign
The company's aggressive push now features two diamond drilling rigs operating simultaneously at its flagship Yandal gold project, located approximately 85 kilometres northeast of Wiluna. This expanded operation comes at a crucial moment, with the company having already completed four diamond holes while maintaining an aircore drilling program that has exceeded 20,000 metres to date.
Gateway Mining executive chairman Andrew Bray confirmed the strategic move, stating: "The arrival of a second diamond rig at Yandal ensures that all key holes will be completed prior to programs wrapping up for the year." The company aims to meet all key objectives before concluding its 2025 field program.
Gold Nuggets Signal Untapped Potential
Adding excitement to the exploration campaign, a prospector has uncovered 19 additional gold nuggets weighing a total of 23.2 grams within the company's Great Western target area. These recent finds follow the company's mid-September announcement of 134 nuggets totaling 366 grams.
The newly discovered nuggets range in weight from 0.2 grams to 7.6 grams and were found at shallow depths between 5-20 centimetres across three promising geological settings. While Gateway stresses that nugget finds don't always indicate broader mineral abundance, the discoveries reinforce the corridor's status as having strong near-surface gold potential.
Targeting Major Gold Systems
Gateway's diamond drilling has already validated intrusive-related geology at the Comanche prospect within the Dusk 'til Dawn locality. This sets the stage for pending assays that could reveal high-grade extensions along shear-hosted systems potentially mirroring nearby major operations like Northern Star's Jundee project.
The company is now focusing on three larger-scale targets at Dusk 'til Dawn, including direct testing of the highly prospective sanukitoid granitoid intrusive contact zone. The exploration corridor encompasses a more than 6km-long sheared dolerite unit that shows structural similarities to mineralisation controls seen at established WA gold projects including Jundee, St Ives' Junction and Paddington.
Complementing the drilling program, a high-resolution ground gravity survey along the Great Western splay structure is approximately 60% complete. Results from this survey are expected to refine geophysical models and guide site selection for imminent diamond drilling targeting prime geological contacts.
Multi-Project Exploration Strategy
Beyond the Yandal project, Gateway is advancing exploration at its 80%-held Glenburgh South gold project, which adjoins Benz Mining's 510,100-ounce gold operation approximately 260km east of Carnarvon. The company has initiated a 46,728 line-kilometre aeromagnetic and radiometric survey across approximately 620 square kilometres to identify structural trends and alteration halos.
Adding to Glenburgh's prospectivity, a significant 13km-long historical gold-in-soil geochemical anomaly with peak responses of 6.6 parts per billion gold remains untested, positioning it for early follow-up in the next field season.
Gateway enters its upcoming field activities with substantial financial backing, holding approximately $13.1 million in cash and liquid securities at the end of the September quarter, bolstered by a post-quarter $22.5 million capital raise to fund approximately $15 million of planned exploration.
The company's multi-pronged exploration blitz positions it to deliver steady news flow through December and into 2026, potentially building on Yandal's existing resource of 8.17 million tonnes averaging 1.52g/t gold for 400,400 ounces, inherited from its acquisition of Strickland Metals' interest in August 2025.
