Gateway Mining Hits 41m at 2g/t Gold at Cowza With 13km Corridor Untested
Key Takeaways
- Gateway Mining's first effective RC hole at Cowza returned 41m @ 2.0g/t Au from 104m, including a high-grade core of 9m @ 7.5g/t Au, confirming primary gold mineralisation in fresh rock beneath a 4.5km oxide corridor.
- The high-grade core shows genuine grade continuity across five consecutive metres ranging from 7.7g/t to 14.5g/t Au, rather than isolated spikes — a structural signature, not a statistical anomaly.
- A second hole drilled 2km north of the discovery, despite missing its primary target, still returned 52m @ 0.3g/t Au, confirming the mineralised system extends well beyond the discovery hole.
- The combined mineralised corridor across Cowza, Celia South, and Ward exceeds 13km of strike on the same lithological contact, with only one effective RC hole completed across the entire system.
- Gateway holds $15.1 million in cash and liquid securities — bolstered by $8.23 million in gross proceeds from liquidating its securities portfolio — funding ongoing RC and diamond drilling without an immediate capital raise requirement.
High-grade gold confirmed at Cowza as first RC drill hole delivers standout result
Gateway Mining (ASX: GML) has confirmed a significant high-grade primary gold discovery at its Cowza prospect, with the first RC hole to effectively test the structure in fresh rock returning 41m @ 2.0g/t Au from 104m, including a high-grade core of 9m @ 7.5g/t Au from 105m. The company has simultaneously filed a request for reinstatement of its securities to official quotation on the ASX.
The result validates an extensive aircore drilling program conducted across 2026, which had already delineated a continuous oxide gold corridor stretching approximately 4.5km along the Cowza structure. This first RC test is not the beginning of the story — it is the confirmation that the oxide-hosted gold identified at surface translates into robust primary mineralisation at depth.
Cowza sits within a broader emerging corridor on Gateway’s Yandal Gold Project. Together with Celia South (~1.5km strike) and Ward (~7km strike), the combined mineralised footprint exceeds 13km of strike on the same lithological contact, almost entirely untested by RC or diamond drilling.
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What the Cowza drill results reveal
The discovery hole — CZRC057
CZRC057 was drilled directly below aircore hole CZAC051, which had previously returned 8m @ 1.9g/t Au. The result demonstrates what an aircore intercept of that grade can develop into when tested in fresh rock beneath the oxide zone.
The mineralisation is hosted within a strongly altered structural corridor along the contact between mafic and intermediate volcanic units. Gold is associated with quartz-carbonate veining, silica-sericite alteration, and disseminated sulphides, with higher-grade zones concentrated at intensely sheared portions of the structure where cross-cutting northeast-trending faults intersect the main contact.
What makes CZRC057 particularly encouraging is the grade consistency within the high-grade core. Rather than isolated spikes in individual metres, gold grades remain elevated throughout the core interval from 105m to 114m. The internal grade breakdown from Appendix A illustrates this continuity:
- 1m @ 9.5g/t Au from 107m
- 1m @ 10.2g/t Au from 108m
- 1m @ 14.5g/t Au from 109m
- 1m @ 8.9g/t Au from 110m
- 1m @ 7.7g/t Au from 111m
Numerous similar aircore intercepts remain untested in fresh rock along the remainder of the 4.5km structure, which means CZRC057 is best understood as the read-through result — the proof of concept — rather than a one-off outcome.
The second hole — CZRC054 and what it means
CZRC054 was drilled approximately 2km north of the discovery hole, targeting the northern end of the Cowza system. Subsequent geological interpretation confirmed the hole was collared too far east, ending in hanging wall mafic volcanics without effectively testing the mafic-intermediate contact.
Despite missing its primary target, the hole still returned 52m @ 0.3g/t Au from 44m — a broad anomalous zone that confirms the fresh rock mineralised system extends for at least a further 2km to the north of CZRC057. Follow-up drilling is planned west of CZRC054, in an analogous position to the discovery hole, to properly test the target structure at that latitude.
Richard Pugh, Chief Executive Officer
“Today’s result is the first effective test of that interpretation in fresh rock – and 41 metres at 2.0g/t Au, including a coherent high-grade core of 9 metres at 7.5g/t Au – is an outstanding validation of the team’s targeting.”
Understanding the Yandal Belt — why the geology matters
The Yandal Greenstone Belt is a proven gold-hosting terrain in Western Australia, hosting major gold mines including Bronzewing and Darlot in the same regional corridor. Greenstone belts are ancient sequences of volcanic and sedimentary rocks known for concentrating gold along structural corridors.
The key targeting horizon at Cowza is the mafic-intermediate contact: the boundary zone where two different volcanic rock types meet. Under structural stress, this contact acts as a conduit for gold-bearing hydrothermal fluids, which pool and deposit gold where the geometry is favourable. This is the structural position that hosts gold throughout the Yandal Belt.
Historical exploration in the area missed Cowza entirely because prior drilling targeted footwall splay structures to the west of this contact zone and did not test the main structural corridor. Gateway’s 2026 aircore program corrected that interpretation, and CZRC057 confirms the thesis in fresh rock.
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Scale, cash position, and what comes next
An emerging gold corridor — the bigger picture
The Cowza discovery sits within a multi-prospect corridor that gives Gateway’s Yandal Gold Project genuine scale. The three component prospects share the same lithological contact and remain almost entirely untested by RC or diamond drilling.
| Prospect | Strike Length | Primary Contact | RC/Diamond Tested? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cowza | ~4.5km | Mafic-intermediate | Partially (1 effective hole) |
| Celia South | ~1.5km | Mafic-intermediate | Largely untested |
| Ward | ~7km | Mafic-intermediate | Largely untested |
The CZRC057 result is the first data point from more than 13km of combined mineralised strike. The scale of what remains to be tested is what elevates this discovery beyond a single strong intercept.
Cash position and next steps
On the corporate side, Gateway reported $15.1 million in cash and liquid securities at the end of the June Quarter, comprising $10.37 million in cash and $4.37 million in securities. Over the past week, the company liquidated its portfolio of liquid securities, yielding gross proceeds of $8.23 million, underwriting the continued drilling campaign.
The programme ahead is structured in four clear steps:
- RC drilling is ongoing at Cowza, focused on defining the strike extent and grade continuity along the 4.5km structure
- Diamond drilling rigs are scheduled to arrive later in September 2026
- The diamond programme will establish geological controls, structural architecture, and high-grade shoot orientation to support future resource definition
- A follow-up RC hole is planned west of CZRC054 to test the mafic-intermediate contact approximately 2km north of the discovery hole
The combination of an untested 13km combined corridor, the read-through provided by CZRC057, and a strengthened cash position means Gateway enters the next phase of drilling with both geological conviction and the funding to act on it.
Ready to Explore the Full Scale of Gateway Mining’s Cowza Discovery?
The first effective RC drill hole at Cowza has confirmed high-grade primary gold at depth, with 41m @ 2.0g/t Au including a coherent 9m core grading 7.5g/t Au — and more than 13km of combined mineralised strike across the Yandal corridor remains almost entirely untested. With $15.1 million in cash and liquid securities backing a structured RC and diamond drilling campaign, Gateway Mining is positioned to systematically unlock what lies along the Cowza, Celia South, and Ward prospects.
Investors seeking to understand the geological controls, targeting rationale, and upcoming drill catalysts can explore Gateway Mining’s full Cowza discovery profile on Discovery Alert to assess the emerging opportunity across the Yandal Gold Project.