Western Yilgarn NL (ASX: WYX) Hits Shallow High-Grade Gallium from Historic Holes at Cardea 1 Project
- Ephrem Joseph
- May 29
- 12 min read
Re-assay of vacuum drill pulps from 161 historic holes at the Cardea 1 Project has delineated a shallow, laterally extensive gallium system within the Darling Range bauxite province, with intercepts including 4.5m at 105.5 ppm Ga₂O₃ from 1.5m and 2.5m at 134.4 ppm Ga₂O₃ from 2m.
Samso News | ASX: WYX | Critical Minerals | Gallium | Cardea 1 Gallium Project | Ida Holmes Junction Project
Western Yilgarn NL (ASX: WYX) has released the results of an extensive re-assay program over its 100%-owned Cardea 1 Project, situated along the Darling Range north of Perth in Western Australia.
Vacuum drill pulps from 161 historic holes drilled by Bauxite Alumina Joint Venture in the early 2010s have been re-analysed for gallium and a broader trace element suite, with results pointing to a coherent, near-surface gallium system developed within the lateritic bauxite profile (Figure 1).
The Cardea 1 re-assay reframes what was historically a bauxite-only story into a dual-commodity proposition, with gallium emerging as a potential by-product across an established alumina province.
The result comes at a time when gallium has become a focal point of critical mineral supply chain conversations following export restrictions imposed by major producing nations.
Figure 1: Vacuum Drillhole Location Map Highlighting Significant Gallium Oxide (Ga₂O₃) Grades ( Source: WYX ASX Announcement May 25, 2026)
Ida Holmes Synergy
Importantly, the story sits alongside the maiden gallium-tellurium discovery at Ida Holmes Junction, reported in the March quarter, positioning Western Yilgarn as a multi-asset critical-minerals exploration story across Western Australia.
During the quarter, Western Yilgarn has also delivered high-grade cobalt-nickel-copper-lead-scandium results within E36/1028 at Ida Holmes.
Table 1: Samso Summary of the Cardea 1 Re-Assay
Samso Summary | Details |
Company | Western Yilgarn NL |
ASX Code | WYX |
Primary Asset Profile | 244Mt Total JORC (2012) bauxite resources across Julimar West, Cardea 2, Cardea 3 and New Norcia; critical mineral exploration across Ida Holmes Junction (~1,300 km²) and Darling Range bauxite projects |
Main Story | Re-assay of vacuum drill pulps from 161 historic holes at Cardea 1 (E70/6703) confirms shallow, laterally extensive gallium mineralisation from surface to 7m, with multiple intercepts exceeding 100 ppm Ga₂O₃ |
Standout Cardea 1 Intercept | 4.5m at 105.5 ppm Ga₂O₃ from 1.5m in JDV236; 2.5m at 134.4 ppm Ga₂O₃ from 2m in JDV383; 3m at 113.9 ppm Ga₂O₃ from surface in JDV332 |
Peak Values | 106 ppm Ga; 142.5 ppm Ga₂O₃ (JDV312); average grade ~63 ppm Ga across the shallow drilling |
Update from Ida Holmes | Maiden gallium-tellurium discovery at Ida Holmes Junction E36/1046: rock chips to 185.5 ppm Ga, 249.35 ppm Ga₂O₃, 1.29 ppm Te over 1.5km strike |
Other High-Grades | E36/1020 rock chips to 153 ppm Ga, 205.66 ppm Ga₂O₃; E36/1028 to 2.47% Co, 1.07% Ni, 1.30% Pb, 126.25 ppm Sc₂O₃ |
Operating Platform | A$366k cash at 31 March 2026; quarterly exploration spend A$94k; 1.52 quarters of funding per Appendix 5B Item 8.7 |
Forward Plan | Systematic testing of untested western portion of Cardea 1; ongoing exploration across Ida Holmes Junction critical minerals corridor |
Figure 2: Location Map of E70/6703 Vacuum Drillhole Locations (Source: WYX ASX Announcement May 25,2026)
The re-analysis has produced what the company describes as a broad and consistently mineralised near-surface gallium system across the Project area. Gallium grades from the shallow drilling peaked at 106 ppm Ga, with an overall average grade of around 63 ppm Ga. Several standout intersections returned grades above 80 to 100 ppm Ga over thicknesses of two to four metres, demonstrating continuity within the shallow lateritic profile.
The geological framework is consistent with the regional setting. Gallium substitutes for aluminium within gibbsite and associated clay minerals during lateritic weathering, and the deeply weathered profiles of the Darling Range, commonly exceeding 20 metres in thickness and containing extensive aluminous duricrust horizons developed over granitic terrains. This process provide the chemistry and the residence time required to concentrate gallium alongside alumina. In the Darling Range, gallium is not typically present as a standalone mineral but occurs as a dispersed trace element through the bauxite profile.
Table 2: Selected significant gallium intercepts from the Cardea 1 re-assay
Hole ID | From (m) | Interval (m) | Ga (ppm) | Ga₂O₃ (ppm) |
JDV236 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 78.5 | 105.5 |
JDV237 | 1.5 | 3.0 | 78.1 | 104.9 |
JDV258 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 75.6 | 101.6 |
JDV259 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 77.9 | 104.8 |
JDV327 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 96.8 | 130.1 |
JDV332 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 84.7 | 113.9 |
JDV383 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 100.0 | 134.4 |
JDV389 | 1.0 | 5.5 | 76.4 | 102.7 |
JDV613 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 80.3 | 107.9 |
JDV312 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 106.0 | 142.5 |
JDV580 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 94.1 | 126.5 |
JDV585 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 92.4 | 124.2 |
JDV555 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 87.8 | 118.0 |
JDV563 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 87.6 | 117.8 |
JDV588 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 85.5 | 115.0 |
Intercepts are downhole intervals; drill holes were drilled vertical through approximately flat-lying mineralisation, so reported intervals approximate true widths. Full results are reported in Appendix 1 of the 25 May 2026 ASX announcement.
Beyond the headline grades, the spatial distribution of the intercepts is the more material outcome. The drilling is concentrated across two principal sectors, mapped as Insert A (around the 6,511,000mN northing) and Insert B (around the 6,508,900mN northing), separated by approximately 2.5 kilometres along strike. Both sectors return shallow, broadly continuous mineralisation, supporting the interpretation that gallium enrichment within the project is not isolated to a single area but forms part of a laterally extensive trend developed across the lateritic profile.
The Cross Section at 6,511,160mN (Figure 3) reveals a wide area of shallow gallium mineralization within the lateritic profile, with numerous drillholes showing consistently high Ga₂O₃ grades near the surface. Drillholes JDV262 to JDV269 exhibit strong continuity of mineralization along this section, featuring several high-grade intervals surpassing 100 ppm Ga₂O₃, with peak values reaching 139.8 ppm and 130.5 ppm.
Figure 3: Cross Section 6,511,160mN highlighting Significant Gallium Oxide (Ga₂O₃) Grades (Source: WYX ASX Announcement May 25,2026)
The cross section at 6,508,900mN reveals a widespread zone of shallow gallium mineralization within the weathered lateritic profile, with high Ga₂O₃ grades consistently found across several drillholes. The section indicates a rise in gallium concentration towards the eastern part of the line, where drillholes JDV613 and JDV614 yielded several high-grade results over 100 ppm Ga₂O₃, with peak assays reaching 121.5 ppm, 116.7 ppm, and 115.5 ppm.
Figure 4: Cross Section 6,508,900mN highlighting Significant Gallium Oxide (Ga₂O₃) Grades (Source: WYX ASX Announcement May 25,2026)
The shallow nature of the system — commonly within the upper few metres from surface — is the operational point of difference. It indicates the potential for low strip-ratio extraction scenarios and aligns the gallium horizon closely with the distribution of aluminous laterite and bauxitic units already mapped across the project area. The implication is that if a future development pathway through alumina is pursued, gallium has the potential to ride alongside as a by-product rather than as a standalone development decision.
Management Commentary — Cardea 1 Re-Assay
“These latest vacuum re-assayed pulps from the Cardea 1 Gallium Project continue to reinforce our view that we are dealing with a large-scale, shallow and laterally extensive gallium system with strong continuity across multiple target zones. Importantly, the mineralised footprint remains open in several directions and many drillholes outside the highlighted results continue to demonstrate anomalous gallium values, providing confidence that there is considerable upside for future resource definition and expansion drilling.
“As global demand for gallium continues to increase due to its critical role in semiconductors, defence technologies and advanced electronics, we believe Cardea 1 is rapidly emerging as a potentially significant Australian gallium project with strong strategic relevance. These results provide a solid foundation for advancing the project toward systematic resource evaluation and further metallurgical assessment.”
— Pedro Kastellorizos, Non-Executive Director, Western Yilgarn NL (25 May 2026)
Gallium in the Darling Range: Province-Scale Context
As the Gallium narrative swirls around the market place, Samso feels that there is too much emphasis being placed on the significance of how Gallium is a critical mineral and how valuable nature of the metal. For us, taking the Samso approach, once can be only valuable is there is a means to economise the metal.
The market is now taken notice of the Gallium mineralisation across the Darling Range and hence attracting investor and producer attention. The province hosts one of the world's largest bauxite systems, extending south of Perth through areas historically mined for alumina feedstock by companies including Alcoa (Figure 5).The deposits formed through prolonged tropical-style weathering of granitic and doleritic basement rocks, resulting in thick lateritic profiles enriched in gibbsite and iron oxides.
Figure 5: Western Yilgarn Bauxite Projects across Darling Range (Source: WYX Website)
The relevance to a gallium investment thesis is straightforward. Alcoa is potentially sitting on a Gallium story that will be hard to compete as the company has the most important part of the chain, ready made infrastructure. The other is the large volume of unprocessed ore.
As we all know now, gallium is commonly enriched in bauxite and alumina systems because the element substitutes for aluminium within gibbsite during lateritic weathering. As alumina refineries process these ores, gallium becomes concentrated in Bayer liquor circuits and refinery residues, creating downstream recovery opportunities.
With gallium classified globally as a critical mineral on the back of its use in semiconductors, defence technologies, LEDs, photovoltaics and advanced electronics, historic bauxite provinces such as the Darling Range are being reassessed for their strategic gallium potential.
The renewed interest reflects the broader supply concern that followed export restrictions imposed by major producing nations in recent years, and rising demand from the technology sector. Although the region's primary focus historically has been bauxite and alumina production, the scale of the lateritic systems suggests the potential for substantial contained gallium inventories when evaluated across large tonnage deposits.
This creates an opportunity for projects to potentially incorporate gallium as a by-product alongside alumina production, improving project economics and supporting the development of secure Western supply chains for critical minerals.
Western Yilgarn, in our opinion, just needs to establish the ore is economical and to develop scale. Once this is established, there is a hungry giant that will want to take on more feed for their gallium processing strategy. As a junior player with limited funding to establish a stand alone processing facility nor the appetite, Western Yilgarn is potentially sitting on a asset that has a natural buyer.
Western Yilgarn's positioning within this province sits across multiple tenements. The 244Mt Total JORC (2012) bauxite resource base — Julimar West (168.3Mt at 36.1% Al₂O₃), Cardea 2 (20.1Mt at 32.1% Al₂O₃), Cardea 3 (16.6Mt at 34.2% Al₂O₃), and New Norcia (39.3Mt at 22.7% Available Al₂O₃) — provides the alumina footprint, and Cardea 1 now adds gallium-specific exploration leverage on top of that base.
The Ida Holmes Junction Discovery Story
The March quarter was dominated by results from the Ida Holmes Junction Project, a ~1,300 km² landholding located approximately 50 kilometres southwest of Gold Fields' Agnew Gold Mine within the Mt Ida–Agnew greenstone belt.
The standout was the maiden discovery of gallium-tellurium mineralisation within Exploration Licence E36/1046. A rock chip reconnaissance program (Figure 6) returned all twelve samples with outstanding gallium values, including:
• 169 ppm Ga, 227.17 ppm Ga₂O₃, 1.29 ppm Te in sample 30104
• 185.5 ppm Ga, 249.35 ppm Ga₂O₃, 1.19 ppm Te in sample 30106
• 171 ppm Ga, 229.86 ppm Ga₂O₃, 1.26 ppm Te in sample 30111
• 147 ppm Ga, 197.6 ppm Ga₂O₃, 0.99 ppm Te in sample 30109
Figure 6: Location map over E36/1046 highlighting the high-grade gallium rock chip results (Source WYX ASX Announcement Feb 09, 2026)
The results span over 1.5 kilometres of strike length and the company has interpreted the tight clustering as indicative of structural control by the proximal Waroonga Shear Zone, rather than random supergene enrichment. The persistence of the gallium and tellurium signal across multiple samples is read as evidence that the shear zone was reactivated repeatedly, allowing successive hydrothermal events to upgrade the mineralised system.
E36/1020 returned an additional set of high-grade gallium rock chips up to 153 ppm Ga (205.66 ppm Ga₂O₃), confirming a 200-metre strike by 120-metre wide gallium-bearing zone. Eight rock chip samples over E36/1028 returned high-grade cobalt-nickel-copper-lead-scandium results (Figure 7) with sample 30098 returning 2.47% Co, 0.58% Cu, 1.07% Ni, 1.30% Pb and 82.5 ppm Sc (126.25 ppm Sc₂O₃) — a result that defines a 120-metre along-strike zone east of the Ballard Fault Zone.
Figure 7: Location Map over E36/1028 highlighting the high-grade Co-Cu-Ni-Pb-Sc rock chip results ( Source: WYX ASX Announcement Feb 18.2026)
Next Steps at Cardia 1
The Project has growth potential within untested bauxite zones in the western portion of the Exploration Licence area at Cardea 1. Regional mapping by the Western Australian Geological Survey has delineated laterite and pisolitic gravels in which the bauxite — and by extension the gallium — occurs, and these areas will be systematically targeted as first-pass exploration. The company has flagged advancing the project toward systematic resource evaluation and further metallurgical assessment, which is the natural next gate for any project transitioning from re-assay confirmation toward maiden resource definition.
Across the broader portfolio, the structural framework around Ida Holmes Junction and the relationship between the Waroonga Shear Zone, the Ballard Fault Zone and the identified mineralised footprints remains the obvious next geological question. Further systematic exploration is required to test that relationship.
Table 3: Near-term milestones to watch
Activity | Timing | Status / Source |
Cardea 1 — systematic targeting of untested western portion of E70/6703 | Forward program | Regional mapping completed; first-pass exploration to follow (25 May 2026 release) |
Cardea 1 — progression toward systematic resource evaluation and metallurgical assessment | To be scheduled | Flagged in Director commentary (25 May 2026 release) |
Ida Holmes Junction — follow-up exploration over E36/1046 gallium-tellurium discovery | Ongoing | Maiden rock chip results over 1.5km strike (Feb 2026 / March Quarterly) |
Ida Holmes Junction — systematic evaluation of relationship between Ballard Fault Zone and Co-Ni-Cu-Pb-Sc mineralisation at E36/1028 | Ongoing | Continuity confirmed over 120m strike (March Quarterly) |
Bauxite portfolio — ongoing land access and project advancement at Julimar West | Underway | Land access agreement signed 20 January 2026 |
About Western Yilgarn NL
Western Yilgarn NL (ASX: WYX) is a Western Australian critical minerals and bauxite exploration company. The company holds a diversified portfolio of tenements across Western Australia spanning the Darling Range bauxite province, the Mt Ida–Agnew greenstone belt of the Eastern Goldfields, the Gascoyne region and other prospective areas.
The company's bauxite portfolio carries a Total JORC (2012) Inferred Mineral Resource of 244Mt, comprising 205Mt at 34.1% total Al₂O₃ and 23.7% total SiO₂ across the Julimar West, Cardea 2 and Cardea 3 projects, and an additional 43Mt at 30.7% Available Al₂O₃ and 6.43% Reactive Silica using the Bomb Digest method across Cardea 2, Cardea 3 and New Norcia.
Western Yilgarn's critical mineral exploration is anchored by the Ida Holmes Junction Project, a ~1,300 km² landholding located approximately 50 kilometres southwest of Gold Fields' Agnew Gold Mine. The Project hosts a maiden gallium-tellurium discovery within E36/1046 with rock chip values to 185.5 ppm Ga and 1.29 ppm Te over 1.5km strike, and confirmed Co-Ni-Cu-Pb-Sc rock chip mineralisation within E36/1028 with values to 2.47% Co and 126.25 ppm Sc₂O₃.
The company reported A$366,000 in cash and cash equivalents at 31 March 2026, with no debt. Exploration and evaluation spend during the March 2026 quarter was A$94,362.
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