Norwest Minerals marches down the yellow brick road with clear path to gold drilling

• Heritage survey clears path for second phase of resource drilling at Bulgera
• First phase drilling yielded multiple zones of mineralisation favourable for gold
• Heap leach study being revised using higher gold price assumption of $5000/oz from the $3500/oz used in 2024

Special Report: Norwest Minerals is preparing for a second round of resource drilling at its Bulgera gold project in WA for early October after a heritage study cleared multiple drill pads.

The company worked with the Marputu Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC – the traditional owners of the land encompassing the project – to clear the large number of pads across the mining lease.

Phase two drilling will follow the first phase that Norwest Minerals (ASX:NWM) completed in August 2025.

Phase 1 drilling consisted of 11 reverse circulation holes totalling 2624m that tested the downdip extension of the multiple gold lodes that host the current Bulgera resource of 8.4Mt grading 1.07g/t, or 288,400oz of contained gold.

All 11 holes intersected the targeted depths and yielded multiple zones of mineralisation that display geological characteristics favourable for gold deposition.

Next month’s drilling will include the testing of several gold targets the company recently identified at the Marymia East project less than 10km southeast of Bulgera.

Heap leach potential

NWM has also contracted Orelogy Mining Consultants to revise a 2024 desktop study that found that a heap leach operation at Bulgera could generate cash flow from the soft near-surface oxide-transitional material.

The revised study will use a $5000/oz Australian gold price, up from the $3500/oz assumption used in the previous study, with results due by the end of September.

Work is also progressing on laboratory testwork to determine the amenability of the Bulgera gold-bearing oxide material in a heap leach scenario.

As part of this work, the company expects a rig capable of drilling large diameter core to arrive on site in early October to collect 400kg of gold-bearing ore.

The 2024 Orelogy study included a layout which demonstrates the operation will fit within the limits of the old Bulgera mining centre.

This area has incurred significant surface damage from past mining and exploration, and the company believes that a portion of future revenue generated from a Bulgera heap leach operation could support rehabilitation of the area which has been neglected for more than 21 years.

This article was developed in collaboration with Norwest Minerals, 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.