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Minga Bar Shear Zone Drilling Reveals Bulk Gold Potential, But True Thickness Unknown

Mining By Maxwell Dee 3 min read

Dreadnought Resources has reported significant high-grade gold intercepts from its first drilling campaign along the Minga Bar shear zone at the Mangaroon Gold Project, highlighting a major new corridor of opportunity. Follow-up drilling is planned to systematically explore this extensive structure.

  • Gold mineralisation confirmed at three targets over 7km strike
  • Thickest gold intercepts recorded to date at Cullen’s Find
  • High-grade results include 4m at 3.2g/t Au and 1m at 11.4g/t Au at Midnight Star
  • Potential for bulk gold deposits alongside narrow high-grade veins
  • Follow-up RC drilling scheduled for April/May 2026

Exploration Breakthrough at Mangaroon

Dreadnought Resources has delivered a promising update from its Mangaroon Gold Project in Western Australia's Gascoyne region. The company’s maiden reverse circulation (RC) drilling program along the Minga Bar shear zone has intersected gold mineralisation at three distinct targets; Cullen’s Find, Midnight Star, and Midday Moon; spanning approximately 7 kilometres of strike. These results represent some of the thickest gold intercepts recorded at the project to date, underscoring the potential scale and richness of this newly recognised corridor.

Significant Assay Highlights

At Cullen’s Find, the drilling returned a standout intercept of 25 metres at 1.0 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 22 metres depth, including a higher-grade 12 metres at 1.4 g/t. Other notable results include 2 metres at 4.4 g/t gold, with a peak 1 metre sample grading 8.7 g/t. Midnight Star, located about 5 kilometres along strike, yielded 4 metres at 3.2 g/t gold, including a remarkable 1 metre at 11.4 g/t. Midday Moon, while showing lower gold grades, revealed a unique copper-bismuth-gold mineralisation style that could indicate a different deposit type within the shear zone.

A Corridor of Opportunity

The Minga Bar shear zone is a major structural feature extending roughly 80 kilometres within Dreadnought’s tenure. The recent drilling focused on just 10% of this strike length, yet already confirmed mineralisation at multiple targets. The thick, continuous zones of gold mineralisation suggest potential for bulk tonnage deposits, complementing the known narrow, high-grade veins that have historically attracted attention. Dreadnought’s Managing Director, Dean Tuck, emphasised that the breakthrough lies in confirming gold presence along this structure, enabling systematic follow-up exploration to extend and define the mineralised zones.

Strategic Next Steps and Broader Project Context

Following the current results, Dreadnought plans to commence extensive RC drilling along the Minga Bar shear zone in April and May 2026, aiming to delineate the extent and continuity of the mineralisation. This program will follow the completion of drilling at Metzke’s Find, another promising target within the company’s Illaara Gold Project. Meanwhile, assays from other Mangaroon targets such as Star of Mangaroon, Lesgo, and Pritchard’s Well are pending, with results expected in the coming months.

The Mangaroon Gold Project forms part of a broader portfolio that includes critical minerals and base metals prospects, with Dreadnought pursuing a self-funded exploration strategy. The company’s approach leverages modern geochemical and geophysical techniques to explore under shallow cover, aiming to unlock new discoveries in historically underexplored areas.

Balancing Optimism with Caution

While the recent drilling results are encouraging, the true thickness and orientation of the mineralised zones remain to be fully understood. Further drilling and resource modelling will be essential to confirm the economic viability of these discoveries. Nonetheless, the combination of thick intercepts and high-grade zones positions Mangaroon as a compelling exploration story in Western Australia’s competitive gold landscape.

Bottom Line?

Dreadnought’s Minga Bar shear zone discovery sets the stage for a potentially transformative gold project, with upcoming drilling poised to unlock its full potential.

Questions in the middle?

  • How will the upcoming April/May drilling refine the understanding of mineralisation continuity along the Minga Bar shear zone?
  • What are the implications of the copper-bismuth-gold mineralisation style at Midday Moon for the overall project geology and economics?
  • When can investors expect updated resource estimates incorporating these new drilling results?