Maritana Minerals (ASX: MRT) has commenced a 4,000-metre aircore (AC) drilling program at the Wilsons gold prospect in Western Australia, marking the first major drilling campaign specifically targeting gold in the area.

The Wilsons prospect is located directly north of the Black Swan Processing Hub (BSPH) in the Eastern Goldfields region, one of Australia's most prolific gold-producing provinces and home to some of the country's largest historic and operating gold mines. A primary target of the current program is a gold anomalism defined at surface across an area exceeding 2.5km by 1.5km.

Managing Director and CEO Grant Haywood said the gold potential of the area extends north of the BSPH onto an exploration tenement that Maritana acquired during the June 2026 quarter. He noted that this northern extension will be tested in subsequent programs following additional surface sampling and mapping.

"The Wilsons gold prospect is a compelling, near-infrastructure discovery opportunity," Mr Haywood said. "Sitting within view of the BSPH and on a granted mining lease, any discovery has high potential to be a valuable future source of feed for Black Swan."

"This first-pass aircore program is designed to systematically test what lies beneath a very strong surface anomaly and to build the geological understanding for follow-up drilling, including the northern extension of the Prospect on the underexplored ground we recently acquired from Nano Metals," he added.

The Wilsons gold-in-soil anomaly was first systematically defined through reconnaissance UltraFine+ soil sampling completed in 2024. The anomaly remains open along strike and is associated with multiple positive indicators, including the identification of gold nuggets, gossanous quartz-vein rock chip samples grading up to 1.25 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, and limited historical gold assays from nickel-focused drilling, including 0.4m at 6.41 g/t gold.

Historically, exploration across the Black Swan district was directed almost exclusively at nickel sulphide mineralisation, and only a very small proportion of historical drill samples were ever assayed for gold. As a result, the gold potential beneath the Wilsons anomaly has not previously been tested by drilling. The AC program now underway provides the first dedicated shallow drilling coverage at the prospect.

Aircore drilling is commonly used in Western Australian greenfields exploration as a cost-effective method to probe through transported cover and weathered regolith to fresh rock, generating geochemical data that guides decisions on whether deeper reverse circulation or diamond drilling is warranted. Results from the Wilsons program are expected to inform Maritana's next phase of exploration, including follow-up drilling of the northern extension.

Prior to market open, MRT shares were steady at 69.0 cents, with a market capitalisation of $258.4 million.