Black Cat Syndicate (ASX: BC8) commits $11 million to Coyote Discovery and Growth Program

Black Cat Syndicate Managing Director James Bruce spoke to MarketOpen to further clarify the company’s $11 million Coyote Discovery and Growth Program, a 35,000-metre drilling campaign scheduled to commence in June 2026 across its 100% owned Coyote Gold Operation in the Tanami region of Western Australia.

The program aims to extend mineralisation to an 850m depth to materially strengthen the underground Resource and unlock additional high-grade gold potential.

When will the 2026 drilling program take place?

We have scheduled the drilling to commence in June 2026. Our planned activities are strategically staggered; we will kick off with Infill Drilling at Coyote Central in June, followed by Metallurgical and Regional Exploration Drilling in July, and finally, our Extensional Growth Drilling will begin in August.

Why was the Coyote project unsuccessful under previous owners, and what is Black Cat Syndicate planning to do differently to ensure the asset succeeds this time?

Between 2006 and 2013, the previous operator struggled with sub-optimal underground decline dimensions, which constrained their equipment selection and severely limited development rates. This led to significant inefficiencies, productivity challenges, and equipment reliability issues. When you combine those operational hurdles with declining revenues, it rendered the operation uneconomic and forced the project into care and maintenance in April 2013.

To ensure success this time, we are taking a much more structured approach. Through this $11 million investment, we aim to better define the opportunity to develop a modern, efficient underground operation at scale, similar to our Paulsens Gold Mine.

What are the primary objectives of the program?

Our program is divided into four main workstreams:

• Coyote Central Extensional Drilling: The current Coyote Central underground Resource remains open along strike and down dip. We are planning to complete 5,000m of diamond drilling to test the down-dip extension of our high-grade Resource to a depth of 850m. This effectively doubles the existing Resource depth and demonstrates the potential for an extended mine life.
• Coyote Central Infill Drilling: Coyote Central currently boasts a high-grade underground Resource of 356koz at 14.6g/t Au, which also remains open along strike and down dip. We will drill 10,500m of combined diamond and RC infill drilling specifically designed to increase the confidence and classification of this Resource.
• Metallurgical Drilling at Sandpiper: Sandpiper is part of the Bald Hill cluster located 30km north of our processing facility, and it historically produced 42koz at 2.7g/t Au from two shallow open pits. It currently hosts an Inferred Resource of 147koz at 4.5g/t Au that remains open. The fresh and transition components of this Resource (135koz at 4.6g/t Au) were not included in our 2024 Scoping Study because we lacked sufficient metallurgical information. Our 2026 drill program is designed to collect representative samples of this unweathered rock so we can investigate processing synergies and potentially include Sandpiper in the Life of Mine plan for Coyote. If the metallurgical outcomes are successful, we plan to undertake additional infill and growth drilling there in 2027.
• Regional Discovery Drilling: Finally, we are planning to complete 15,000m of RC drilling to target four highly prospective regional targets—Pebbles East, Coyote NE, Lewis Granite, and Track Syncline—all of which sit within a 30km radius of our processing facility.

Do you have any final thoughts on what this program means for the future of Coyote?

Black Cat Syndicate discovery program is one of the largest drilling investments in Coyote’s history, more than tripling the scale of prior drilling programs since we acquired the project. We are building directly on the successful high-grade discoveries made at Coyote over twenty-five years ago. Coupled with our existing surface infrastructure and the extremely high-grade nature of this orebody, we believe this comprehensive program will unlock substantial high-grade gold potential and lay the groundwork for a highly efficient, modern mining operation.