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Black Cat Syndicate has intersected high-grade gold mineralisation of up to 47.05 grams per tonne (g/t) at its Coyote gold operation in Western Australia’s Tanami region, while identifying a new exploration target at depth.
The results follow a seven-hole, 4000m diamond drilling program targeting the Axial Core Zone at Coyote Central, undertaken as part of the company’s 2027 financial year (FY27) discovery and growth strategy.
Five infill holes targeting inferred portions of the existing resource returned significant gold intersections, including a standout 1.46m at 47.05g/t gold from 313.54m.
Other notable results included 1m at 11.07g/t from 224m, 1m at 10.30g/t from 322.95m and 1.54m at 4.90g/t from 221m.
All five infill holes intersected gold mineralisation within or adjacent to the existing inferred resource, which Black Cat said reinforced the continuity of mineralisation across the deposit.
The miner’s managing director Chris Stone said the results strengthened confidence in the project’s resource potential.
“We are encouraged by the infill drilling at Coyote, which continues to demonstrate grade continuity and provides additional confidence in the Resource,” he said.
Coyote Central hosts an existing mineral resource of 1.57 million tonnes at 8.5g/t gold for approximately 430,000 ounces, with around 54 per cent classified as Indicated.
Beyond the infill program, two deeper step-out holes were completed to test potential extensions to the Axial Core Zone.
One hole intersected gold-bearing mineralisation within an altered dolerite intrusion, returning 0.30m at 1.07g/t gold from 593.81m and 0.30m at 1.36g/t from 653.20m.
Although lower grade, Black Cat said the results are considered geologically significant as they confirm the dolerite intrusion is mineralised, raising the possibility that it contributed to gold formation at Coyote Central.
“Deep exploration drilling has also intersected mineralised dolerite at depth, and although these grades are low, it does show that the dolerite is mineralised,” Stone said.
In early October, Black Cat also returned a broad, high-grade intersection from the near-surface Lynx lode at its Paulsens gold operation in the Eastern Pilbara, intersecting 9.86m at 27.38g/t gold from 107.44m, including 0.60m at 186.27g/t.
While Lynx is not included in Paulsens’ current mineral resource, Black Cat said that ongoing infill and extension drilling was intended to support an initial estimate once assays from 11 outstanding holes had been received and incorporated into the geological model.
As for Coyote, future exploration will target areas above the intrusion, further south of the current drilling, where Black Cat sees potential for additional mineralisation.
Coyote Central was discovered in 1998 and produced approximately 211,000 ounces of gold between 2006 and 2013 before entering care and maintenance.
Black Cat acquired the operation in 2022 and subsequently completed approximately 16,350m of infill and extension drilling. A 2024 scoping study outlined a potential production scenario of 200,000 ounces over an initial five-year processing period.
Despite the encouraging results, Black Cat has suspended its current Coyote exploration program for the remainder of FY27 to redirect capital towards its producing assets.
In September, the miner allocated up to $35 million to exploration and resource conversion drilling in FY27 for Paulsens and Kal East, identifying around 814koz of inferred resources across the two operations, comprising 1.97Mt at 2.3g/t gold for Paulsens and 12.71Mt at 1.6g/t gold for 671koz at Kal East.
“We have put the current program on hold for the remainder of FY27 so that we can re-deploy capital to focus on extending our current operations at Paulsens and Kal East,” Stone said.
“We look forward to resuming the Coyote program once we have completed our life of mine activities at the producing assets.”
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