Catalina’s Focus Sharpens as Kookynie West Sale Frees Resources Amid Exploration Gains
Catalina Resources has made significant strides in its mineral exploration portfolio, acquiring over 650 km² in the Central Yilgarn and reporting promising high-grade gold and rare earth element intersections across multiple projects.
- Acquisition of Yerilgee and Evanston greenstone belts totaling 650 km² in Central Yilgarn
- High-grade gold intercepts at T6, T8, and T11 prospects with substantial follow-up potential
- Laverton Project reveals broad gold zones and rare earth element (REE) mineralisation near Mt Weld
- Diamond drilling at Lachlan Fold Belt’s Rock Lodge confirms alteration zones with sulphide veining
- Asset sale agreement executed for Kookynie West Project to focus resources on priority assets
Strategic Acquisition Expands Central Yilgarn Footprint
Catalina Resources Ltd (ASX: CTN) has bolstered its exploration portfolio with the acquisition of the Yerilgee and Evanston greenstone belts from a subsidiary of Dreadnought Resources Limited. This transaction adds over 650 square kilometres of highly prospective ground within the world-renowned Yilgarn Craton, approximately 190 km from Kalgoorlie. The newly acquired tenure spans roughly 65 km of strike along these underexplored belts, positioning Catalina to explore multiple camp-scale gold prospects.
The Yerilgee Greenstone Belt hosts three primary gold camps, T6, T8, and T11, with historical drilling revealing high-grade gold and silver intercepts that remain open for further exploration. Notably, the T6 camp has delivered impressive results such as 17m at 4.1 g/t Au and 28 g/t Ag, including a 4m interval grading 14.9 g/t Au. The T11 camp, characterized by a 20 km long gold-in-soil anomaly and rock chip samples up to 233 g/t Au, remains grossly underexplored, offering significant upside potential.
Laverton Project Delivers Encouraging Gold and REE Results
At the Laverton Project, recent air core drilling has intersected a broad zone of gold mineralisation, highlighted by 28m at 1.09 g/t Au, including a high-grade 1m interval at 9.69 g/t Au. This mineralisation aligns with the Barnicoat Shear Zone, a structural corridor hosting several known gold resources. Additionally, the project has yielded multiple high-grade rare earth element (REE) intersections, with values reaching up to 13,406 ppm TREO over 4m. These REE anomalies are associated with mafic intrusions potentially linked to the nearby Mt Weld carbonatite, one of the world’s richest REE deposits.
Lachlan Fold Belt Drilling Confirms Alteration and Veining
In New South Wales, Catalina completed a two-hole diamond drilling program at the Rock Lodge Project within the Lachlan Fold Belt. The drilling intersected broad alteration zones with quartz-sulphide veining and brecciation hosted by siltstone, indicative of a late brittle deformation event potentially related to gold mineralisation. Assay results are pending, but the presence of copper and bismuth in previous drilling suggests a genetic link to deeper intrusions, warranting further investigation.
Portfolio Rationalisation and Focused Strategy
Catalina has executed an asset sale agreement with KoBold Tjantjuru Pty Ltd for its Kookynie West Project, allowing the company to concentrate its resources on higher priority projects. The sale is conditional upon KoBold’s due diligence and approval. Meanwhile, Catalina is relinquishing less prospective tenements in line with its strategy of continuous portfolio evaluation and prioritisation.
Financially, the company reported exploration and evaluation expenditure of $254,000 for the quarter, with no mining development activities. Cash and cash equivalents stood at $2.19 million at quarter-end, providing a runway of over five quarters at current expenditure levels.
Outlook and Market Positioning
Catalina’s expanded footprint in the Central Yilgarn and promising drill results across gold and REE targets position the company well within key mineral provinces. The combination of strategic acquisitions, high-grade intercepts, and a disciplined portfolio approach underscores its potential to create shareholder value through exploration success and eventual resource development.
Bottom Line?
Catalina’s strategic acquisitions and robust drilling results set the stage for a pivotal year in advancing its gold and rare earth ambitions.
Questions in the middle?
- What are the timelines and expected milestones for follow-up drilling at the Central Yilgarn gold camps?
- How will the completion of the Kookynie West asset sale impact Catalina’s capital allocation and exploration focus?
- What insights will the pending assays from the Lachlan Fold Belt diamond drilling provide regarding the potential scale of mineralisation?
