Dundas Minerals Locks in Bloodwood Licence Over 5km Gold Anomaly in Yamarna
Key Takeaways
- Exploration Licence E38/4002 was formally granted on 18 August 2026, giving Dundas Minerals tenure over the Bloodwood gold prospect on the eastern margin of the Yamarna Shear Zone.
- The Bloodwood Camp dataset comprises 158 holes totalling 5,709.4m, with seven air-core holes returning intervals above the 0.1 g/t Au cut-off, including 12m at 3.31 g/t Au (with a 4m sub-interval at 9.53 g/t Au).
- Only one diamond hole — drilled to 199.4m — has ever tested below the base of oxidation across approximately 5km of strike, leaving the anomaly effectively open at depth.
- The licence grant triggered a milestone payment to Cazaly Resources of $150,000 cash and $150,000 in Dundas shares (subject to shareholder approval), under the Romano earn-in agreement for an 80% interest in approximately 800km² of frontier greenstone.
- Near-term work at Bloodwood is focused on native title, heritage, and access approvals rather than drilling, with Dundas' immediate drilling capital committed to its three advanced Kalgoorlie projects — Rockland, Capricorn, and Baden-Powell.
Licence secured and disclosure strengthened at Bloodwood gold prospect
Dundas Minerals (ASX: DUN) has released a supplementary and amended announcement on 7 September 2026, responding to queries raised by ASX Listings Supervision regarding its earlier 1 September 2026 Bloodwood announcement. The core commercial facts are unchanged: Exploration Licence E38/4002 was granted on 18 August 2026, and the Romano earn-in agreement terms with Cazaly Resources (ASX: CAZ) remain in place. This is a compliance update that strengthens disclosure quality, not a change to the exploration position.
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What changed — and what didn’t
ASX Listings Supervision raised queries about the reliability and balance of the historical exploration results disclosure in the original announcement. The amended and restated announcement makes the following key changes:
- Removed statements that Dundas “had not independently verified” the underlying data, which were inconsistent with the Competent Person’s Statement in the same document. These have been replaced with a formal Reliability Statement setting out the records reviewed, the verification undertaken, and the limits of that verification.
- Source of historical data explicitly identified: Gold Road Resources’ ASX announcements of 20 September 2018 and 28 May 2019, and statutory WAMEX report A121250 and its associated digital archive.
- Full collar population now tabulated: All 158 Bloodwood Camp holes (157 air-core, one diamond) are presented in Appendix A with coordinates, orientation, status, end-of-hole depth and maximum gold value.
- Historical hole 18CWAC0944 no longer relied upon: The previously referenced 4m @ 0.24 g/t Au result has been removed because primary records for that hole were not reviewed by Dundas.
- JORC Code (2012) Table 1 expanded on an “if not, why not” basis as required by Listing Rule 5.7.1.
The grant of E38/4002 and the commercial terms of the Romano earn-in agreement are unchanged by these amendments.
The Bloodwood prospect — what the historical data shows
Bloodwood is an approximately 5km gold-in-bedrock anomaly on the eastern margin of the Yamarna Shear Zone, identified by Gold Road Resources through regional soil sampling and first-pass air-core drilling in 2018. The defined Bloodwood Camp dataset comprises 158 holes in total: 157 air-core holes for 5,510m and one diamond hole for 199.4m.
Seven of the 157 air-core holes returned an interval at or above Gold Road’s 0.1 g/t Au reporting cut-off. All seven, together with the diamond hole, are set out below.
| Hole ID | Type | Interval (m) | Grade (g/t Au) | Depth from (m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18CWAC0920 | AC | 12m (incl. 4m @ 9.53 g/t Au) | 3.31 | 20m |
| 18CWAC1083 | AC | 5m | 0.55 | 21m |
| 18CWAC1084 | AC | 10m | 0.25 | 36m |
| 18CWAC1059 | AC | 4m | 0.31 | 16m |
| 18CWAC1082 | AC | 2m | 0.19 | 9m |
| 18CWAC1112 | AC | 4m | 0.14 | 72m |
| 18CWAC1077 | AC | 1m | 0.10 | 6m |
| 18CWDD0028 | DDH | 1.70m | 3.29 | 114m |
Of the remaining 150 air-core holes, 146 returned reported gold values but no interval at or above the 0.1 g/t Au cut-off. Four short holes had sample records but no reported gold value.
The broader picture here matters. Only one diamond hole tests below the base of oxidation across approximately 5km of strike, meaning the anomaly is open and effectively untested at depth. All intervals are down-hole lengths; true widths are unknown. No Mineral Resource or Ore Reserve has been estimated for the Bloodwood prospect or the Romano Project.
Managing Director Jonathan Downes
“The grant secures tenure over Bloodwood. Historical drilling identified an approximately five-kilometre gold anomaly, but that drilling was first-pass and wide-spaced and only one diamond hole tested at depth beneath the highest grade air-core result. That single diamond drill hole returned encouraging early-stage results and is substantially deeper than any other drilling in the region. Geological and grade continuity have not been established and will be a high priority in planning future drilling.”
What air-core drilling is — and why it matters at this stage
Air-core (AC) drilling is a low-cost, regional reconnaissance technique used to collect bedrock geochemical and rock-type information across large areas at relatively shallow depths. At Bloodwood, Gold Road collected 4m composite samples from holes drilled at -60 degrees, with the programme designed to detect regional anomalism rather than define a resource.
The method is widely used in early-stage exploration for a straightforward reason: it covers ground efficiently and cheaply before committing to more expensive reverse-circulation or diamond drilling. Its limitations, however, are equally important to understand. Samples are shallow, drill spacing is typically wide, and air-core results alone cannot establish geological continuity or support a Mineral Resource estimate.
At Bloodwood, that context is critical. The 157-hole air-core programme was designed to collect bedrock geochemical and lithological information. The single diamond hole — 18CWDD0028, drilled to 199.4m — is the only test of what lies beneath the main anomaly. The grant of E38/4002 now gives Dundas the platform to design the next, more systematic phase of exploration.
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Next steps at Bloodwood and the broader Romano Project
Near-term work at Bloodwood is focused on access and data, not drilling. The three priorities are:
- Progress native title, heritage and reserve-access approvals over E38/4002.
- Compile and reinterpret the full historical Gold Road dataset across the 5km anomaly.
- Design the company’s first systematic reverse-circulation and diamond drilling programme.
It is worth noting that Dundas’ near-term drilling capital is committed to its three advanced Kalgoorlie projects — Rockland, Capricorn and Baden-Powell — where heritage survey clearance and Programme of Work approvals are already in place and a drilling contractor has been engaged.
On the earn-in structure: Dundas is earning an 80% interest in approximately 800km² of frontier greenstone under the Romano earn-in agreement with Cazaly Resources. The grant of E38/4002 triggered a milestone obligation to pay Cazaly $150,000 in cash and to issue $150,000 in Dundas shares, at a deemed issue price equal to the volume weighted average price of Dundas shares over the five trading days immediately prior to the grant date, subject to shareholder approval. If shareholder approval is not obtained, Dundas will instead pay a further $150,000 in cash.
Dundas’ broader exploration portfolio across the Kalgoorlie and Esperance regions provides diversification as Romano progresses through the approvals phase ahead of any ground-disturbing work at Bloodwood.
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