Leeuwin Metals cheers as maiden drilling returns strong gold hits at Marda Central

• Leeuwin Metals’ maiden drilling returns thick gold intersections with high-grade zones
• Results indicate that Marda Central mineralisation continues beyond existing shallow open pit
• Company has opted to accelerate the Phase Two drill program to start in the coming weeks

Special Report: Maiden drilling at Leeuwin Metals’ Marda project in Southern Cross, WA, is off to an “outstanding” start with the intersection of multiple shallow, thick, high-grade gold intervals at the Marda Central prospect.

The results extend known mineralisation below the existing open pit and demonstrate continuity at depth, with strong intersections in both the upper and lower banded iron formation units.

Notable assays include:

• 16m grading 2g/t gold from a down-hole depth of 134m and 8m at 3.04g/t from 215m (MGRC0006)
• 22m at 1.25g/t gold from 123m including 3m at 6.3g/t from 123m and 8m at 1.01g/t from 137m (MGRC0004)
• 21m at 1.09g/t gold from 98m and 9m at 2.46g/t from 190m (MGRC0005)

This is hugely positive for Leeuwin Metals (ASX:LM1) given the company only acquired the project in late March 2025 from Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS).It also comes as gold prices continue to trade above the $5000/oz mark.

“The results confirm our view that the mineralisation at Marda Central continues beyond the shallow open pit, this drilling demonstrates the exploration upside present, demonstrating the depth and strike potential of the system,” executive chairman Christopher Piggott said.

Marda project

The Marda project consists of 500km2 of mining, exploration and prospecting licences north of Southern Cross in WA.

It holds a broad target base across four main areas – Marda Central, Marda North, Marda South and Marda West – featuring varying stages of exploration maturity including resource definition, historical workings, geochemical anomalies and untested concepts.

Marda Central covers a 3km trend with four existing pits and mineralisation hosted in BIF and quartz veining with sulphide associations.

Recent drilling targeted down-dip and strike extensions of known mineralisation within the granted mining lease.

The results confirm broad zones of shallow, high-grade gold and reinforce Marda Central as a priority area for follow-up drilling in 2025.

Next steps

Ongoing work will focus on testing mineralised extensions along the BIF trend.

“Given the strength of these results, we are accelerating the phase two drilling program to follow up results at Marda Central in the coming weeks, with planning well advanced and a drill rig secured,” Piggott added.

Phase 2 drilling will test down-dip and strike extensions to recent high-grade intercepts along the BIF-hosted trend.

The company is also continuing drill planning at the Evanston prospect about 50km to the north of Marda Central.

Targeting is focused on structurally hosted gold within a separate greenstone package with drilling expected to start later in the 2025 field season.

Additionally, 3D geological modelling of recent and historical data at both Marda Central and Evanston will support structural interpretation and future drill design.

Looking further ahead, the company is also carrying out a prospect review at Golden Orb, King Brown and other structurally prospective corridors across the project area to build a pipeline of follow-up targets.

This article was developed in collaboration with Leeuwin Metals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.