Dreadnought Maps 13 Gold Corridors Over 40km at Illaara with Follow-Up Drilling Set

• 13 gold mineralised corridors identified over 40km strike
• Significant gold intercepts include up to 18m at 0.8 g/t Au
• Only 10% of Illaara greenstone belt tested so far
• Infill air core drilling to commence August 2026
• Further first-pass drilling planned for September/October 2026

Extensive Gold Anomalies Confirmed at Illaara

Dreadnought Resources (ASX:DRE) has delivered a substantial update from its Illaara Gold Project in Western Australia's Yilgarn Craton, reporting the final assays from a wide-spaced air core drilling campaign comprising 493 holes and approximately 35,000 metres of drilling. The results have unveiled 13 distinct gold mineralised corridors, cumulatively stretching over 40 kilometres in strike length, reinforcing Illaara’s status as a large-scale, underexplored gold opportunity.

The drilling program, designed to systematically test for broad-scale anomalism associated with mineralised corridors, has returned encouraging intercepts such as 18 metres at 0.8 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 36 metres depth at Black Oak, including higher-grade zones of 3 metres at 1.8 g/t. Other notable intercepts include 6 metres at 0.4 g/t from 117 metres at CRA Homestead and near-surface mineralisation at Black Oak comprising 21 metres at 0.3 g/t from surface.

Strategic Focus on Priority Targets

Despite these promising results, only about 10% of the Illaara greenstone belt; covering roughly 70 kilometres of strike and 800 square kilometres; has been tested to date. This initial phase has allowed Dreadnought to narrow its exploration focus from nearly 60 square kilometres of greenstone to a concentrated 5–10 square kilometres of priority ground, where follow-up infill air core drilling will begin in August 2026 at Black Oak and CRA Homestead.

These infill programs aim to refine the understanding of mineralised structures and define targets suitable for more detailed reverse circulation (RC) drilling planned later in 2026. Further first-pass air core drilling is also scheduled for September and October in new areas within Illaara, promising to expand the exploration footprint.

Illaara’s Untapped Potential in the Yilgarn Craton

Located approximately 190 kilometres northwest of Kalgoorlie, Illaara has historically been overlooked for gold exploration due to its prior focus on iron ore. This has left it one of the last major greenstone belts in the Yilgarn Craton without systematic modern gold exploration, a fact that Dreadnought’s Managing Director Dean Tuck highlights as a significant opportunity.

“Many of the significant gold-rich greenstone belts across the Yilgarn Craton have already been extensively explored. Illaara is one of the last major belts that has never had systematic gold exploration,” Tuck said. “Our initial program has done exactly that; identifying over 40 kilometres of prospective mineralised corridors and narrowing our focus for follow-up drilling.”

Building on a High-Grade Resource Base

These exploration advances complement Dreadnought’s established high-grade resource at Metzke’s Find within Illaara, which contains approximately 25,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 5.2 g/t, predominantly in the Indicated category. Metzke’s Find remains open along strike and at depth, providing a solid foundation for the project’s ongoing development.

Dreadnought’s broader strategy aims to evolve into a self-funded explorer by leveraging high-grade open pit resources like Metzke’s Find, where mining, haulage, and processing are outsourced to third parties. This approach reduces reliance on capital markets and directs internal cash flow toward discovery-focused exploration.

Next Steps and Exploration Outlook

With follow-up infill air core drilling set to commence imminently at Black Oak and CRA Homestead, investors will be watching closely for results that could sharpen drill targets ahead of RC drilling campaigns. The planned expansion of first-pass drilling into new areas within Illaara later this year also raises the prospect of identifying additional mineralised corridors.

While the true widths of mineralisation remain undefined and the economic viability of these corridors is yet to be established, the scale of anomalism and the presence of strong orogenic gold pathfinder elements (such as silver, arsenic, molybdenum, antimony, tellurium, and tungsten) underscore the district-scale potential of Illaara.

Bottom Line?

Dreadnought’s Illaara drilling results mark a clear step forward, but the real test lies in translating broad anomalism into a viable, economically mineable gold deposit.

Questions in the middle?

• Will follow-up infill drilling confirm continuity and higher-grade zones within the identified corridors?
• How might the planned RC drilling results reshape the resource potential at Illaara?
• Could Illaara emerge as a major new discovery in the Yilgarn Craton’s mature gold landscape?