Dreadnought Resources (ASX:DRE) has commenced an aircore drilling program at its 100% owned Illaara Gold Project, situated within the Yilgarn region of Western Australia.
The initiative represents the largest exploration drilling campaign in the company's history, comprising approximately 550 holes for an estimated 40,000m of drilling.
The primary objective is to achieve a large-scale gold discovery by systematically testing a 24-kilometre strike of the Illaara greenstone belt.
The program utilises wide-spaced, first-pass drilling patterns, generally set at 800m x 100m, with tighter 400m x 100m spacing focused on the high-priority CRA-Homestead target.
The systematic approach is designed to identify gold anomalism within weathered saprolite, a method that has historically proven successful in uncovering major deposits in similar geological settings.
Despite being adjacent to multi-million-ounce gold belts with decades of production history, the Illaara greenstone belt has never previously undergone this level of rigorous, modern exploration.
Managing Director Dean Tuck noted that this program is a core pillar of the company's "Finding More Gold, Faster" strategy.
The drilling operations are expected to span three to four months, with a steady stream of assay results anticipated to begin in April.