Waratah Minerals Hits Gold at 840m Depth Linking Ironclad to Consols Zone

Ironclad drilling opens new front in the Cargo Intrusive Complex

Waratah Minerals (ASX: WTM) has completed its first drillhole beneath the Ironclad Gold Mining Licence (GL5828), with results from IDD001 intersecting multiple parallel gold-bearing lodes outside the known mine footprint and strengthening the case for a continuous mineralised corridor linking the Ironclad and Consols zones within a 6km priority area at the margin of the Cargo Intrusive Complex.

IDD001 was collared 230m north of the historic Ironclad Mine headframe, designed to pass beneath the mine at approximately 400m depth and continue to 840m to test a potential link with mineralisation at the northern end of Consols drilling. The hole delivered significant results across multiple depth zones, from surface to more than 600m down.

The 6km gold corridor at Spur has been taking shape across successive drill programmes, with the Ironclad-to-Consols link representing the most structurally significant test of the corridor thesis to date.

What MD Peter Duerden said

Managing Director Peter Duerden

“The significance of this result is that IDD001 was drilled approximately 230 metres north of the historic Ironclad Mine, outside the known mine area and successfully intersected multiple gold-bearing lodes and potential continuation of the Ironclad mineralised system. The broad mineralised intervals, together with higher-grade zones at depth, demonstrate that the system extends beyond the limits of historical mining and remains largely untested.”

Managing Director Peter Duerden

“Importantly, these results strengthen our belief that Ironclad may form part of a much larger mineralised corridor linking Ironclad and Consols within the 6km priority zone at the margin of the Cargo Intrusive Complex. With follow-up drilling planned to test shallower positions and strike extensions, we believe Ironclad has the potential to emerge as another significant new growth area.”

What the Ironclad intercepts reveal

The headline results from IDD001 span three distinct depth zones, illustrating the multi-lode character of the system:

• Shallow zone: 3m @ 1.09 g/t Au from 3m, within a broader 6m @ 0.57 g/t Au from surface
• Mid zone: 30m @ 0.47 g/t Au from 84m, including 5m @ 1.79 g/t Au from 101m and 1m @ 3.08 g/t Au from 101m
• Down-plunge extension: 4.55m @ 1.22 g/t Au from 471m, interpreted as a probable vertical extension of structures hosting near-surface Ironclad mineralisation
• Deep zone: 37m @ 0.92 g/t Au from 605m, with a higher-grade core of 14m @ 1.78 g/t Au from 623m, including 2m @ 4.46 g/t Au from 623m and a separate zone of 5m @ 4.17 g/t Au from 649m

This is a scout hole that has structurally de-risked the corridor thesis. Multiple parallel mineralised lodes encountered at surface and at depth confirm the system extends well beyond the historical workings and remains largely untested.

Spur Zone drilling confirms continuity along the Tywi Fault

Results from three Spur Zone holes (SPD084, SPD085, SPD086) demonstrate excellent lateral and depth continuity at the northern extension of the Tywi Fault, directly supportive of future resource growth. Broad near-surface intersections across all three holes reinforce the scale and consistency of the mineralised system.

Spur Gold Zone expansion across the Essex Fault and adjacent structures has built the geological framework that makes the Tywi Fault continuity results from SPD084, SPD085, and SPD086 interpretable as part of a coherent, district-scale system rather than isolated intercepts.

SPD086 intersected the broadest shallow hit of the three holes, with 60.6m @ 0.53 g/t Au from just 26m at the northern end of the Tywi Fault, including a high-grade shoot of 11m @ 1.58 g/t Au. The extension of 1m @ 8.98 g/t Au at 446m confirms that high-grade shoots persist at depth within the broader system. SPD084 encountered mineralisation from surface and returned robust deeper grades, while SPD085 delivered a thick deeper zone of 78.28m @ 0.42 g/t Au from 666m, extending the known mineralised footprint westward at the northern margin of Spur.

Understanding gold mineralisation systems — what makes Ironclad-Consols significant

For investors who are newer to exploration geology, several concepts from this announcement are worth understanding in plain terms.

1. What an intrusive complex-margin setting means. The Cargo Intrusive Complex sits within the eastern Lachlan Orogen of New South Wales, a region that hosts some of Australia’s largest gold and copper deposits. Gold systems at the margins of these intrusive bodies can be large and structurally complex, with mineralisation hosted along faults and breccia zones where fluids focused and deposited gold over geological time. The Spur Project sits directly on this margin.

2. Why finding mineralisation outside the known mine footprint matters. The historic Ironclad Mine worked a known, relatively constrained ore body. IDD001 was drilled 230m north of that workings boundary and still hit multiple gold-bearing lodes. That tells you the historical mine was not the extent of the system — it was one part of something larger. Every new lode encountered outside that boundary is an expansion of the potential scale.

3. What “open at depth and along strike” means. When geologists describe mineralisation as “open,” they mean drilling has not yet found where it ends. Results remain above cut-off grades at the deepest points tested. For resource growth potential, open systems offer more upside than those that are closed off by barren rock at known boundaries.

4. Why Photon Assay matters for reliability. All results in this programme were assayed using Photon Assay (PA), a technique developed by CSIRO and Chrysos Corporation that uses high-energy X-rays on a 500g sample rather than the 50g used in conventional fire assay. The larger sample size reduces the risk of missing coarse gold particles, providing more statistically representative results, particularly in systems where gold occurs in coarse form.

For WTM investors, the key takeaway is that the Ironclad-to-Consols corridor thesis is now supported by drill evidence across multiple holes, not just geological theory. IDD001 has demonstrated that mineralisation exists at depth and along strike beyond the historic mine, and the Spur Zone holes have confirmed the system’s continuity northward.

What’s next at Spur — the drilling pipeline

The near-term catalyst pipeline is broad, with results from multiple completed holes still pending and active drilling continuing across the project.

• Follow-up drilling at Ironclad is planned for October 2026, targeting shallow, high-grade gold
• Drilling is underway at Goldenclad (GCD001 active, 50m at time of reporting)
• Multiple Consols holes completed and pending assays: SPD047W1, SPD082, SPD082A, SPD083A, SPD089, SPD090
• SPD095 completed and pending assays at the Spur prospect
• Active holes across Spur and Consols: SPD079, SPD087A, SPD091A, SPD092, SPD093, SPD094, SPD096, SPD097, SPD101
• Additional drill pads approved at Ironclad and Goldenclad

Managing Director Peter Duerden

“With drilling aggressively advancing, we believe Spur remains one of the most compelling emerging gold discoveries in Australia.”

The pending assay pipeline across Consols and the approved Ironclad follow-up represent multiple near-term news catalysts. This is not a single-result story. The drill programme is broad, active, and advancing on several fronts simultaneously, with each pending hole offering the potential to further define and expand the corridor between Ironclad and Consols.

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