Gateway Mining has dramatically expanded its Cowza gold discovery in Western Australia, with step-out drilling tripling the continuous high-grade strike length from 800 metres to 2.5 kilometres — and confirming high-grade gold in fresh rock for the very first time. The results from the company's Yandal gold project, located in WA's prolific Yandal Greenstone Belt, have materially strengthened the exploration model and raised expectations that Cowza could become a major gold-bearing structure.
Strike length surges as every drill line hits gold
Since the Cowza prospect was first announced in June, every single step-out drill line completed has intersected the same underlying gold system — a level of consistency that has given the company growing confidence in the continuity and scale of the find. The prospect sits within a major shear zone at the contact between mafic and intermediate volcanic rocks, a geological setting that has repeatedly delivered new discoveries across the broader Yandal project.
The mineralised corridor forms part of a larger 4.5-kilometre-long structurally complex zone that has been strongly demagnetised. Gateway believes the same hydrothermal fluids responsible for that widespread demagnetisation also deposited the gold, pointing to a large and fertile mineralising event — and suggesting Cowza's growth story is far from over.
Recent aircore drilling along the newly extended strike returned a series of compelling intercepts, including:
- 27 metres grading 1.4 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 84 metres depth
- 16 metres at 1.9g/t gold from 88 metres
- 16 metres at 1.3g/t gold from 68 metres
The 27-metre intercept is particularly significant — it came from the first aircore hole to properly test mineralisation in fresh rock, and the hole ended in mineralisation, with its final metre returning 3.3g/t gold. That result indicates the drill had only begun to intersect the primary gold system before reaching the limits of the aircore rig, confirming that mineralisation extends into primary rock beneath the weathered surface profile.
Second RC rig mobilised for fresh-rock drilling at Cowza
Gateway Mining is moving swiftly to press its advantage. While a first reverse circulation (RC) rig continues working at the company's Haflinger discovery — located 25 kilometres north of Cowza — a second RC rig is due to arrive this weekend and will immediately begin fresh-rock drilling at the new find. The expanded RC program signals a strategic shift from proving discoveries to systematically mapping the scale of primary mineralisation at depth.
Chief executive officer Richard Pugh said the evidence was mounting in support of something substantial. "With evidence mounting in support of a substantial, continuous, and highly fertile gold-bearing structure that extends well beyond the boundaries of the assays received to date, the RC rig may well be focused on Cowza for the foreseeable future," he said.
Assay results from the remainder of the recent aircore program testing Cowza's northern extension are expected within a fortnight. Drilling in that area has already intersected the same shearing, veining and alteration observed in the confirmed mineralised holes, adding further confidence ahead of those pending results.
A growing discovery pipeline within a world-class gold belt
Cowza is the latest addition to a rapidly expanding discovery pipeline at Gateway's 1,780-square-kilometre Yandal gold project, situated 85 kilometres north-east of Wiluna. The project hosts close to 100 kilometres of prospective gold trends across the Yandal Greenstone Belt — one of Western Australia's premier gold provinces and home to several multi-million-ounce deposits, including Northern Star Resources' 7.4-million-ounce Jundee operation.
Cowza joins Haflinger, Hummer, Celia South and Panikin as part of a growing suite of discoveries that complement Gateway's existing 400,400-ounce gold resource, providing the company with a solid and expanding foundation as exploration momentum continues to build across the project.
