Dreadnought Resources Ltd (ASX:DRE, OTC:DRDNF, FRA:N2Z) has identified three gold-bearing trends, each extending more than two kilometres, from first-pass air core drilling at its 100%-owned Illaara Gold Project in Western Australia’s Yilgarn region.
The results come from the first 92 holes of a planned 500-hole, 35,000-metre air core program targeting about 24 kilometres of strike along the Illaara structural zone.
Drilling has confirmed broad gold anomalism at CRA Homestead, supported by strong orogenic gold pathfinder elements including silver, arsenic, bismuth, antimony, tellurium and tungsten.
Plan view geology map of Illaara showing the location of planned air core hole locations in relation to known gold prospects.
Central anomaly extended
On the central anomaly, drilling returned 30 metres at 0.2 g/t gold from 90 metres in hole ILAC061. This result sits about 800 metres along strike from a previous intercept of 18 metres at 0.2 g/t gold from 114 metres in hole IRC006.
The CRA Homestead anomaly has now been extended to more than two kilometres and remains open to the south, where drilling is continuing.
The target also appears to be getting shallower and increasing in thickness to the south.
Follow-up drilling planned
Managing director Dean Tuck said the Illaara greenstone belt had not previously been systematically drilled with air core, despite its location near multi-million-ounce gold belts.
“The Illaara greenstone belt was long under iron-ore producer control and has never been systematically drilled with air core. This is despite being located adjacent to multi-million ounce belts that have seen decades of gold production.
Our first-pass, wide-spaced, air core drilling is off to a fantastic start with these results. The CRA-Homestead anomaly has been extended to over 2km and remains open to the south where the rig is currently drilling. Additionally, two other large-scale anomalies have also been identified further highlighting the scale of the system. These are the sorts of programs that lead to major discoveries, and we look forward to following up on these gold trends imminently. A major gold discovery is a core pillar of our Finding More Gold Faster Strategy, and we look forward to a steady stream of news flow throughout the year.”
Dreadnought has planned follow-up drilling to tighten spacing to 25–50 metres, with work expected to begin immediately after the current program is completed in June 2026.
Results from first-pass drilling at the Black Oak target are also expected in June.
The Illaara project covers about 800 square kilometres and 70 kilometres of strike, about 190 kilometres northwest of Kalgoorlie.
Map showing the location of Illaara relative to other gold operations and major players in the region.