West Cobar Launches 5,000m Drilling Push at Mystique Amid High-Grade Gold Signals

Exploration Momentum Builds at Mystique

West Cobar Metals Limited (ASX – WC1) is gearing up to commence a substantial 5,000-metre air core drilling program at its wholly owned Mystique gold project in Western Australia’s Fraser Range Province. Scheduled to start in early September 2025, this campaign follows the receipt of critical regulatory approvals, including the Programme of Works (PoW) from the Department of Mines and Heritage clearances from the Ngajdu Native Title Aboriginal Corporation.

The drilling contractor, Gyro Drilling, has been engaged to execute the program, which aims to test two primary target zones – extensions of saprolite-hosted gold mineralisation within West Cobar’s licence area and significant gold mineralisation in the underlying basement rocks. These targets are underpinned by encouraging geophysical data and historical drilling results.

Strong Nearby Gold Intercepts Spark Optimism

Adding to the excitement are exceptional gold intercepts recently reported just 250 metres north of West Cobar’s tenement boundary at the Themis/Gazelle Prospect by Rumble Resources Limited. Highlights include intercepts such as 25 metres at 2.42 grams per tonne gold, including 5 metres at 10.85 grams per tonne, and 16 metres at 6.69 grams per tonne, including 4 metres at 22.2 grams per tonne. These results suggest a significant basement source of gold mineralisation that may extend into West Cobar’s licence.

Aeromagnetic surveys reveal a strong north-south structural trend, interpreted as a corridor potentially extending up to 4 kilometres, much of which lies within West Cobar’s tenement. This trend also links to the Torquata Prospect, located approximately 5 kilometres southwest, where widespread gold anomalies in soil and saprolite have been identified. The Torquata area shows geological similarities to the Tropicana gold deposit, a major discovery in the region, further enhancing the prospectivity of the Mystique project.

Strategic Approach to Exploration

West Cobar’s Managing Director, Matt Szwedzicki, expressed enthusiasm about the upcoming drilling campaign, highlighting the dual focus on shallow saprolite gold and deeper basement-hosted targets. The company plans to use the air core drilling results to define and prioritize targets for subsequent reverse circulation (RC) drilling, which will test the bedrock mineralisation more thoroughly.

Despite the early stage of exploration and the challenge posed by transported cover obscuring surface geology, West Cobar is leveraging a robust dataset of geophysics and historical drilling to guide its efforts. The project area remains relatively underexplored, presenting an opportunity to uncover significant gold deposits in a highly prospective geological setting.

Looking Ahead

The Mystique project represents a strategic addition to West Cobar’s portfolio, complementing its other assets such as the Bulla Park copper antimony project in New South Wales and the Salazar Critical Mineral Project in Western Australia. As the air core drilling program unfolds, market participants will be keenly watching for assay results that could validate the promising geological indicators and potentially pave the way for resource definition and development.