CGN Resources secures strategic gold ground near Leonora; shares soar

Key highlights

• Wins WA tenement ballot for E37/1587 and E37/472, expanding the Panhandle Project ~20km south of Leonora and adding ground between Gwalia and Ulysses operations. 
• Historical drilling shows multiple +1 g/t Au hits and coherent surface geochem; large areas remain untested beneath shallow transported cover. 
• Managing Director Stan Wholley says the package has “all the hallmarks of a high-potential gold project,” with targets close to existing mining and milling hubs. 
• Christmas Well (10km north of Leonora) sits on the Gwalia Shear Zone with mapped batholith-greenstone contacts and +1 g/t intercepts aligned to a strong gravity gradient. 
• First field programs across Panhandle and Christmas Well are slated to start in Q4 2025, with heritage and access steps already progressed; tenure grants pending. 
• Market check (ASX delayed, 2:22 pm AEST): CGR at A$0.092, +80.39% on volume of 11.63m; 52-week range A$0.043–0.140; 1-yr return +15% (company snapshot).
  
   

CGN Resources (ASX: CGR) has added fresh momentum to its Leonora strategy, winning a Western Australian ballot to secure two exploration licence applications—E37/1587 and E37/472—about 20 km south of the gold-mining town. The tenure extends the company’s Panhandle footprint and positions it directly between Genesis Minerals’ Gwalia (~8 Moz) to the north and the Ulysses mining hub to the south—two of the Goldfields’ most productive neighbourhoods. 

What’s new—and why it matters

The win tightens CGR’s grip on a proven corridor. The additional ground builds out Panhandle and complements the nearby Christmas Well Project (10 km north of Leonora), giving CGR dual exposure along strike from multi-million-ounce systems in a Tier-1 jurisdiction. For investors, proximity to multiple active mines and mills can shorten the time from discovery to potential development options such as toll-treatment or hub-and-spoke concepts, should commercial ounces be found. 

Data already points to mineralised systems. Across the new Panhandle blocks, historical drilling logged in the GSWA WAMEX database has delivered +1 g/t intercepts coincident with anomalous surface geochemistry. Yet large tracts of prospective greenstone stratigraphy remain hidden under shallow transported cover—areas that have seen limited modern, systematic exploration. That “under cover” thesis is critical: in the Leonora district, concealed litho-structural traps analogous to known deposits have yielded new targets once explorers integrated magnetics, gravity and wide-spaced aircore. CGR’s dataset compilation is now underway to refine its first pass drill-ready targets. 

Panhandle: between Gwalia and Ulysses

The Panhandle Project now comprises four exploration licence applications—E37/1567, E37/1588, E40/472 and E40/454—arrayed along the Goldfields Highway ~25 km south of Leonora. The western blocks are interpreted to continue the Gwalia-host stratigraphy just 10 km along strike, while the eastern ground trends into the structural corridor that hosts Ulysses, Admiral and Orient Well. On the company’s magnetic imagery, the key greenstone belts show up as narrow, highly magnetic trends; where these fold northward beneath cover inside Panhandle, they generate a series of concealed litho-structural targets. In short: strong geology, limited modern work, and multiple untested positions along proven lines of lode. 

Source: CGR ASX Announcement 

Christmas Well: structural sweet-spot on the Gwalia Shear

North of town, Christmas Well sits squarely on the Gwalia Shear Zone—the same architecture that anchors the >8 Moz Sons of Gwalia and the >4 Moz Tarmoola systems. Within CGR’s tenure, the contact between the Raeside Batholith and the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt is mapped and drill-confirmed, and several +1 g/t Au intercepts line up against a pronounced gravity gradient—often a hallmark of major orogenic gold systems. 

Historic work has been light: widely spaced geochemistry, first-pass aircore and only minor RC follow-ups, leaving ample runway for systematic testing of conceptual batholith-greenstone targets, untested greenstone in the west, and previously hit but under-drilled anomalous zones. 

Program & timelines

CGR says initial exploration activities across Panhandle and Christmas Well are targeted for Q4 2025, with heritage agreements and wider stakeholder engagement already progressed. As with all early-stage WA projects, workstreams will sequence around tenure grant timing and land access. Expect near-term updates on grant status, heritage clearances, refined target maps from the compiled datasets, and the method mix (e.g., AC/RC to map structure and geochem under cover, versus early scout diamond where structure demands). 

What the company says

Managing Director Stan Wholley welcomed the ballot outcome and framed the exploration thesis around proven geology and infrastructure leverage:

“The CGR team is very pleased with the successful ballot outcome. This new tenure package has all the hallmarks of a high-potential gold project—highly prospective stratigraphy, demonstrated gold endowment, and excellent infrastructure just 25km from Leonora on the Goldfields Highway.

The proximity to multiple active mining and milling operations enhances the strategic value of the ground. We’ve identified several compelling targets, including multiple +1 g/t gold hits in historical drilling data and untested litho-structural features under shallow cover. It’s remarkable how little modern exploration this area has seen, given the scale of gold endowment along strike.

Assembling a tenure package of this quality in such a highly mineralised region is a direct result of the strength and capability of the Company’s geology team. With the addition of these tenements, our expanded Panhandle Project—alongside the nearby Christmas Well Project—provides multiple pathways to discovery as we advance our exploration programs targeting high-grade gold.” 

Portfolio context: West Arunta & Paterson exposure

While Leonora shapes the near-term field plan, CGR’s flagship Webb Project in the West Arunta remains a large-scale greenfields play. The company has demonstrated an extensive kimberlite field there and is targeting large magmatic systems including IOCG and carbonatite-related niobium-REE—an approach validated by neighbouring discoveries from peers using similar datasets (high-res magnetics, FALCON gravity, multi-element geochem). 

CGR has also applied for the Broadhurst Project in the Paterson Province, covering parts of the mineralised Broadhurst Formation that hosts known copper systems such as Nifty and Maroochydore—another pipeline option once tenure is granted. 

What the setup suggests

Leonora: location, structure and cover are the three themes. CGR now controls multiple positions along the Gwalia/Tarmoola structural corridor, has verified gold anomalism, and—critically—owns ground where favourable stratigraphy rolls under shallow cover that has deterred past systematic work. That mix has delivered discoveries elsewhere in the district once explorers stitched geophysics, basement geochem and careful structural mapping into a disciplined drill sequence. Execution risk remains (tenure timing, targeting under cover, permitting), but the setup is classic Leonora orogenic gold—and now it’s CGR’s turn to test it. 

As of 2:22 pm AEST on 3 October 2025 (ASX delayed), CGR traded at A$0.092 (up by 80.39%). 

Source: CGN Resources ASX announcement, 3 Oct 2025.