WAU starts drilling 518k ounce WA gold project

Our WA gold Investment WA Gold (ASX: WAU) just started a new round of drilling at its 518k ounce Abercromby gold project.

Earlier this month WAU released assays from drilling that was looking for extensions at depth, where it hit some lower grades in the right types of rocks.

This follow up drilling comes immediately after and will infill the existing resource, improving confidence in the resource ahead of future mine and development studies.

As a reminder, the scoping study put out a couple of months ago showed:

1. Pre-production capital of just ~$8M
2. A pre-tax NPV of $205M - $253M
3. A Stage 1 production target of ~114,000 ounces of gold
4. Forecast pre-tax cashflow of ~A$270M

And this was done with a base case gold price of A$6,000/oz, which is a little below current prices, so very representative to today which sits at ~US$4,630/oz (~A$6450/oz).

The drilling from this program is planned at 54 holes covering ~7,200m, targeting the planned open pit area, to support a maiden Ore Reserve.

(source)

An Ore Reserve is the part of a resource shown to be economically mineable, and is what mine plans (and ultimately financing decisions) are built on.

This is helping WAU progress to a planned Final Investment Decision during next year (2027).

Assay results are expected to start flowing from mid-September. (source)

For a reminder on WAU and this project:

1. It sits on a granted Mining Lease
2. There is a toll treatment opportunity at the nearby Wiluna processing plant (non-binding MoU in place)
3. It is free milling gold with recoveries in the 93-95% range
4. The mineralisation starts near surface

(source)

For a look at the region the project sits in…

(source)

See our deep dive on the prior results, WAU's other project, and what we are looking forward to from this drilling here: WAU: A Positive Surprise…

What else is WAU up to?

WAU is yet to drill its ground directly bordering Minerals 260’s 6.2M ounce deposit (the prior drilling here was in the northern blocks).

The drilling in the southern blocks is what we are most excited about here.

Although the land may already be a strategic holding to WAU as it could be preventing $2.1BN capped MI6 to mine all of its resource in this area…

However, proving that the resource extends into this block would only increase the value to WAU (and increase the incentive for MI6 to want it).

(source)(source)

It was back in May that MI6 acquired most of the land in the area, so that now leaves WAU with the most ground not controlled by MI6 in the area, it just so happens to be of strategic interest also perhaps:

(source)

What we want to see next from WAU

Abercromby project - WAU’s 518K ounce gold JORC resource estimate

On this project, here are the milestones we are tracking:

• ✅ Phase 1 drilling at Abercromby
• ✅ Phase 1 assay results
• ✅ Phase 2 drilling at Abercromby (~7,200m of diamond drilling underway today)
• 🔲 Abercromby resource upgrade (WAU is targeting 1M+ ounces)
• 🔲 Maiden Ore Reserve + feasibility study workstreams
• 🔲 Binding toll treatment deal (converting the Wiluna MoU into something firm)
• 🔲 Final Investment Decision (targeted for 2027)

Bullabulling project (next door to $2.1BN Minerals 260)

Here are the milestones we are tracking for this project:

• ✅ Bullabulling maiden drill program assays (46 holes completed, results due “early August”)
• 🔄 Sub-Audio Magnetics survey at Bullabulling (scheduled September) (source)