West Cobar Metals has completed its acquisition of the Mystique Gold Project, an exploration licence in Western Australia's (WA) Fraser Range Province.

The licence, known as E28/2513, spans 35km² and is located approximately 225km south-south-east of Kalgoorlie.

The Mystique project is noted for its potential for orogenic gold deposits and is situated within the Albany-Fraser Province. The area has remained relatively unexplored due to more than 30m of transported Eocene sediments concealing the geology and mineralisation.

Adjacent tenements explored by the IGO and Rumble Resources joint venture have yielded significant gold intercepts, particularly at the Themis prospect just north of the Mystique project boundary, the company said.

These findings include drill intersections with high gold grades such as 25m at 2.42 grams per tonne (g/t) and 16m at 6.69g/t.

West Cobar Metals managing director Matt Szwedzicki said: “We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of the Mystique Gold Project. The tenement comprises a key land area with exceptional and immediate potential for both shallow saprolite hosted and large-scale basement hosted gold deposits. We have identified two high-priority targets, which justify immediate exploration drilling."

West Cobar's immediate targets at the Mystique project include drill testing the palaeochannel/saprolite and bedrock gold mineralisation, which is likely to extend southwards into its ground at the Themis South Prospect.

Additionally, the operator aims to drill test and define significant gold mineralisation targets in the saprolite and basement rocks at the Torquata Prospect. A drill programme is being prepared to follow up on these key targets.

Last month, MinRex announced that West Cobar Metals has initiated a reverse circulation (RC) drilling programme at the Fraser Range Project.

This project is situated roughly 120km to the north-east of Esperance in WA.

The project encompasses the secured exploration licenses E63/2078 and E63/2083, as well as the exclusive rights to mine all minerals found in the underlying layers of E63/2056.

The drilling campaign will consist of eight RC holes, each reaching depths of 200–300m.

The objective is to explore five high-priority copper-gold sites within the Biranup Zone, which is geologically connected to the Fraser Zone, known for the significant Nova-Bollinger nickel-copper discovery.

MinRex is wholly financing the drilling operations, committing up to A$500,000 ($324,642) as part of an agreement with WC1 that could potentially allow MinRex to secure a 50% stake in the project.