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    Dreadnought RC drilling at Illaara: design, cost and pit-shell notes for engineers

    March 12, 2026|

    Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

    Dreadnought RC drilling at Illaara: design, cost and pit-shell notes for engineers

    First reported on Australian Mining

    30 Second Briefing

    Dreadnought Resources has started reverse circulation drilling at the Metzke’s Find prospect within its 100 per cent owned Illaara gold project in Western Australia, targeting structurally controlled high-grade gold along a previously defined shear corridor. The RC programme is designed to step out from earlier intercepts and test down-dip and along-strike extensions of mineralisation, using relatively low-cost, high-production hammer drilling suited to the hard Archaean greenstone host rocks. Results will guide follow-up diamond drilling, resource definition and potential pit shell optimisation across the broader Illaara trend.

    Technical Brief

    • RC programme at Metzke’s Find is configured for rapid metreage through hard Archaean greenstones.
    • Hammer drilling is being used specifically to maintain penetration rates and sample quality in competent rock.
    • Step-out holes are planned both along strike and down dip from prior intercepts to define continuity.
    • RC chips will provide preliminary lithological and alteration logging ahead of any oriented diamond core work.
    • Sampling strategy is geared to generate assay data suitable for early-stage pit shell and optimisation studies.
    • Results are expected to refine structural models controlling mineralisation ahead of detailed resource drilling design.

    Our Take

    Western Australian gold projects like Dreadnought Resources’ Illaara and Ora Banda Mining’s Little Gem and Round Dam (covered on 11 March 2026) are clustering exploration around existing processing hubs, which can materially lower future capex if toll treatment or plant-sharing options are pursued.

    Gold is one of the most densely covered commodities in our Mining database, and new drilling at prospects such as Metzke’s Find tends to be scrutinised for shallow, high-grade hits that can be fast-tracked into small-scale open pits to feed underutilised mills in the region.

    For junior explorers in Australia, early RC drilling success at projects like Illaara often underpins the next round of equity raisings, so assay results here are likely to influence Dreadnought Resources’ near-term funding and joint-venture negotiation leverage.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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