Rumble Lines Up Three Gold Drilling Campaigns as Western Queen Study Nears

Rumble Resources Limited (ASX:RTR) is lining up three drilling campaigns before Christmas, giving investors several potential assay catalysts while the company works towards a development decision at its Western Queen gold and tungsten project. The immediate schedule starts with up to 5,000 metres of aircore drilling at Wardawarra in mid-September, followed by Munarra Gully drilling in October and a separate Thunderstorm campaign later in 2026.

Wardawarra Drilling Targets Western Queen Extensions

The Wardawarra program will test a roughly 2 kilometre by 1 kilometre target area about 7 kilometres north of Western Queen Central, along the Western Queen Shear Zone. Rumble says a structural review identified three positions with similar kinematics to the Western Queen deposits; the northern target is the first selected for drilling, while two southern positions require more preliminary work.

The company plans to use aircore drilling to test for gold mineralisation, with slimline reverse circulation holes to follow if mineralisation is identified. The program matters because Rumble is simultaneously trying to establish a near-term production pathway at Western Queen South and Central. Its June resource estimate stands at 5.13 million tonnes grading 2.6 grams per tonne gold for 433,600 ounces, including 227,700 ounces in the Indicated category, but the new drilling remains exploration rather than defined mine inventory.

Munarra Gully Follow-Up Tests Exceptional Intercept

Munarra Gully offers the sharpest near-term exploration target. Hole MGRC26011, drilled through a previously ineffective 300-metre section of the Amaryllis Shear Zone, returned 13 metres at 21.64 grams per tonne gold from 122 metres, including 5 metres at 55.56 grams per tonne and 1 metre at 221 grams per tonne. The same interval also contained 7 metres at 0.52% copper.

The October program will include a diamond hole to twin MGRC26011, alongside RC drilling to the north, south and at depth. Rumble says the twin hole is intended to help determine the orientation of the gold-hosting structures and improve targeting of a more closely spaced program. Deeper drilling may also assist with targeting interpreted volcanogenic massive sulphide copper mineralisation, but the current result is a single high-grade intersection and its continuity is yet to be established.

Thunderstorm Revisits Untested Fraser Range Gold

At the 601-square-kilometre Thunderstorm project, Rumble plans up to 5,000 metres of aircore and RC drilling at the Gazelle and Pion prospects. The targets sit beneath cover near the Newman Shear Zone, where historical drilling by IGO identified gold in both the Cenozoic cover and underlying gneissic rocks.

Gazelle’s historical results include 16 metres at 6.69 grams per tonne gold, including 4 metres at 22.2 grams per tonne, while a separate hole returned 6 metres at 9.15 grams per tonne. Six consecutive holes at Pion showed gold anomalism over 1.2 kilometres, with a best result of 4 metres at 3.80 grams per tonne. Rumble intends to drill east-west aircore lines and use RC holes to test both a possible paleochannel and structurally hosted basement mineralisation. It says this will be the first program in the area to test fresh rock, making the results important for understanding how the gold was deposited.

Western Queen Study Sets the Near-Term Development Test

While exploration expands the optionality, the key corporate milestone remains the updated Western Queen Scoping Study, which Rumble says is on track for release in late September. The study will consider material from both Western Queen South and Central. If the economics are attractive, the company plans to dewater the South pit, establish an underground portal near the pit bottom and work towards first ore approximately six months after the decline begins.

That sequence is conditional, and the announcement does not provide the updated study’s production profile, capital requirements or operating economics. The company has an existing toll milling and blending agreement covering Western Queen material at the Kirkalocka plant, about 180 kilometres southeast of the project, but the development timetable still depends on the study and subsequent decisions. The next few months therefore combine a clear newsflow schedule with three unresolved questions: whether Wardawarra adds meaningful mineralisation, whether Munarra Gully’s spectacular hit repeats, and whether Western Queen can convert its resource base into an economically credible restart.