Dreadnought Resources Boosts Metzke’s Find Gold Resource by 94% to 25koz at 5.2 g/t Au

Resource Upgrade Nearly Doubles Indicated Gold at Metzke’s Find

Dreadnought Resources (ASX:DRE) has unveiled a significant upgrade to its Metzke’s Find gold deposit within the Illaara Gold Project, Western Australia, boosting the high-confidence Indicated resource by 94%. The updated JORC Mineral Resource now totals approximately 25,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 5.2 grams per tonne (g/t), with 84% of the resource classified as Indicated, up from 72% in 2023.

This uplift reflects extensive drilling between 2025 and 2026, which expanded the resource tonnage to 150,100 tonnes at 5.2 g/t Au, compared to the previous estimate of 68,400 tonnes at 6.8 g/t Au. Importantly, the resource contains 50% more gold ounces within the top 50 metres, a shallow zone that will likely enhance project economics and cashflow, particularly for open pit mining scenarios.

Shallow, High-Grade Gold on Granted Mining Lease

Metzke’s Find is situated on a granted mining lease, enabling Dreadnought to advance studies with fewer regulatory hurdles. The deposit is amenable to both open pit and underground mining methods, with the majority of mineralisation hosted within fresh rock above 100 metres vertical depth. An open pit study is currently underway to assess economic extraction possibilities.

Dreadnought’s Managing Director, Dean Tuck, highlighted the quality of the deposit, noting the average indicated grade of 6.0 g/t Au compares favourably with other high-grade open pit deposits in Western Australia. He also emphasised the excellent metallurgy, with gold recoveries averaging 98.9%, including 78.5% gravity recovery from free-milling ore, suggesting straightforward processing.

Exploration Potential Remains Strong with Further Drilling Planned

The resource remains open at depth and along strike, particularly to the north, where a recent discovery at Metzke’s North extends mineralisation over more than 150 metres of strike. Further drilling is scheduled to commence in July 2026 to test these extensions and potentially grow the resource base further.

Historical workings at Metzke’s Find date back to 1911, with limited follow-up due to remote location and logistical challenges. Dreadnought acquired the project in 2020 and has since conducted systematic drilling, which has substantially improved geological confidence and resource size.

Strategic Shift Towards Self-Funded Exploration

Dreadnought is pursuing a strategy to become a self-funded explorer, leveraging high-grade open pit deposits like Metzke’s Find to generate cashflow through third-party funding, development, haulage, and processing. This approach aims to reduce reliance on capital markets and focus internal funds on discovery and exploration across its broader portfolio, including the Illaara greenstone belt and other projects like Mangaroon and Gifford Creek.

The company is also engaged in commercial discussions to advance Metzke’s Find towards production, signaling growing external interest in the deposit’s potential.

Illaara Project Remains Underexplored with Multiple Targets

Covering approximately 800 square kilometres and 70 kilometres of strike in the Yilgarn Craton, Illaara is one of the least explored greenstone belts in the region. Dreadnought’s systematic exploration program, including air core drilling and geophysical surveys, targets multiple structural corridors with known gold anomalism, offering significant discovery upside beyond Metzke’s Find.

This resource upgrade at Metzke’s Find adds a solid foundation to Dreadnought’s broader discovery ambitions in the Yilgarn, complementing recent advances at other project areas.