PERTH, Western Australia - Norwest Minerals Limited (ASX: NWM) ('Norwest' or the 'Company') is pleased to announce that Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling has officially commenced at its 100%-owned Bulgera Gold Project in Western Australia.
This crucial program, undertaken by Strike Drilling, follows a significant 33% increase in the project's Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE), underscoring the strong potential for further resource growth.
HIGHLIGHTS
RC drilling is now underway at the Bulgera Gold Project, with the drill rig on site.
The initial 11-hole, 2,600-metre campaign will test for gold mineralisation trending down-dip from known near-surface gold-bearing shear zones within the Bulgera mining lease.
Drilling will target extensions of shear structures below the old Mercuri, Price, and Venus pits, as well as other known gold prospects, aiming to intersect high-grade gold mineralisation at depths known to be prospective along the Plutonic Well greenstone belt.
This drilling program immediately follows a 33% increase in the Bulgera Gold MRE to 288,400 ounces (8.4Mt @ 1.07 g/t Au), announced late last week.
RC drilling will also test several compelling gold targets at the Marymia East project identified from a comprehensive analysis of recent and historical exploration work.
Norwest Minerals CEO, Mr. Charles Schaus, commented: 'We are very excited to kick off this RC drilling program at Bulgera, especially on the back of our significant 33% gold resource upgrade to 288,400 ounces announced last week. This drilling program has the potential to further increase our Bulgera gold resource inventory well beyond its current total. Strike's RC rig can drill to over 300m, which will allow testing of the multiple gold-bearing shear structures at depths known to host highgrade gold mineralisation along the Plutonic Well greenstone belt. Norwest is looking for similar extensions to the shear-hosted gold being targeted in this campaign, building on our 2021 success where we defined shear-hosted gold mineralisation to 550m down-dip below the old Bulgera pit
The 11-hole (2,620 metres) program will target shear-hosted gold mineralisation identified from historical rotary air blast (RAB), aircore, and RC drilling. The new step-out RC drilling will test the shear-hosted gold mineralisation from 50m up to 200m down-dip of the multiple near-surface prospects. Additional drill holes will be added to the Bulgera drilling program once their surface drill locations are approved by the relevant stakeholders. Following the Bulgera campaign, the rig will move to the Company's Marymia East project to drill test several gold targets recently identified from an analytical review of recent and historical (1990s) exploration data.
Overview and Resource Drill Planning The Bulgera Gold Project and nearby Marymia East ground package cover 26,800 hectares in the MidWest region of Western Australia. The Bulgera project is located at the northeastern extent of the Plutonic Well greenstone belt, which also hosts the long-running Plutonic gold deposit, located some 50km to the southwest. Approximately 50 open pit and underground gold deposits have been discovered and exploited along the strike of this gold-rich greenstone belt. Bulgera has a history of shallow oxide mining and considerable potential for deeper, high-grade mineralization. At Bulgera the first 11 RC holes (2600 metres) will be drilled from pads cleared by earlier Heritage studies. The holes will target down-dip gold lode extensions for Mercuri, Price, Venus, and Rainbow North. Follow-up RC drilling will be undertaken once additional pads and tracks are Heritage cleared.
July 2025 Resource Model Revision The updated Bulgera project MRE announced last week, now totals 8.4Mt grading 1.07g/t gold for 288,400 ounces (at a 0.6 g/t gold lower cutoff grade)2. This increase of 70,800 ounces, or 33%, is a result of a comprehensive reinterpretation of the project's 3D geological model and the inclusion of new gold zones within the greater Mining Lease area. The revised 2025 resource model accounts for the doubling of the gold price to A$5,000/oz since the last modelling in March 2022, allowing for the inclusion of additional gold mineralisation along the margins of previously identified gold-bearing shear zones, surrounding large areas of near-surface oxide, and within previously undefined gold prospects beyond the historic Bulgera mining centre. The Bulgera gold trend is recognised as the northeast extension of the Plutonic Well mafic-ultramafic mine sequence, where gold mineralisation along the entire belt has continually shown the highest gold grades occurring below 100 vertical metres. Norwest believes targeting below the known goldbearing structures has potential for one or more major gold discoveries within the Bulgera mining lease
Contact:
Charles Schaus
Email: infor@norwestminerals.com.au
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