NAE Commences Maiden RC Drilling at the Wagyu Gold Project, Pilbara WA

New Age Exploration (ASX: NAE) (NAE or the Company) is pleased to announce that Strike Drilling has mobilised to site with a Schramm T450 rig, and Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling has begun as of Sunday, 16 March 2025.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Maiden Reverse Circulation (RC) drill program of 3,000m has commenced at the Wagyu Gold Project, Pilbara WA
  
• Drilling Contractor, Strike Drilling, to take 50% of payment in equity, demonstrating confidence in the project’s potential
• Program aims to extend gold mineralisation strike and depth, following high-grade intercepts up to 15.6g/t gold in recent Phase 2 Air Core drilling
• The Wagyu Project is located in the Central Pilbara’s fast-emerging gold region, adjoining De Grey Mining (ASX:DEG) tenure containing its ~11.2Moz¹ Hemi Gold deposit

The Wagyu Gold Project, located within a fast-emerging gold mineralised corridor, represents a highly prospective Gold opportunity ~9km within the same mineralised trend as De Grey Mining’s (ASX:DEG) Hemi Gold Deposit containing ~11.2 Moz1 (refer to Figure 1) in the Central Pilbara.

NAE Executive Director Joshua Wellisch commented:

"The commencement of RC drilling marks an important milestone in advancing the Wagyu Gold Project. The support of Strike Drilling, who has agreed to take 50% of their payment in equity, is a strong endorsement of the project’s potential. We are eager to test these high-priority targets and further define the extent of gold mineralisation.”

This 3,000m RC drill program is the next step in NAE’s systematic exploration strategy at Wagyu, following promising results from recent geophysical surveys (refer ASX Announcement 11 March 2025) and Phase 2 Air Core (AC) drilling, which confirmed multiple high-grade gold intercepts including 15.6g/t gold over 1m (refer ASX Announcement 17 February 2025). The program will test five high-priority gravity targets on the eastern side of the project area, with particular emphasis on Gravity Targets 1 & 10 (Figure 2), following up on the significant gold mineralisation (>1g/t) identified in the AC drilling (Figure 3).

Figure 1: Location Map showing NAE’s Wagyu Gold Project (E47/2974) in the Gold Mineralisation Corridor shared with De Grey’s significant gold Mineral Resources, including Hemi, Mt Berghaus and Calvert.

The Hemi Gold Mineral Resource was last updated by De Grey Mining on 14 November 20241. The estimate is for 264Mt @ 1.3g/t Au for 11.2Moz, which can be broken down into 13Mt @ 1.4g/t for 0.6Moz, 149Mt @ 1.3g/t Au Indicated for 6.3 Moz, and 103Mt @ 1.3g/t Au for 4.3 Moz Inferred.

NAE confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in De Grey’s reported Mineral Resources referenced in this market announcement. To NAE’s full knowledge, all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the estimates in the relevant market announcements continue to apply and have not materially changed.

The previous AC drilling drilled to the top of fresh rock only, and this RC program will test for primary mineralisation in fresh rock below and adjacent to the oxide mineralisation identified in late 2024. RC drilling is also intended to outline better the boundaries, nature, and extent of mineralised intrusions identified from geophysics and AC drilling.

The RC drilling campaign is scheduled for completion within four weeks, with assay results expected between late April and May 2025.

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