Catalyst Metals Ltd (ASX: CYL) has had a rough month, and Friday is not giving shareholders much relief.
The ASX gold stock is trading 2.99% lower at $5.685 at the time of writing, despite the company releasing new drilling results from its Plutonic Gold Belt.
The latest fall means Catalyst shares are now down around 15% over the past month and 22% in 2026.
That pullback has taken some heat out of a stock that had previously attracted plenty of interest from gold investors.
Here are the details of the announcement.
Image source: Getty Images
More drilling at Old Highway
In its ASX release, Catalyst reported new drilling results from Old Highway, an undeveloped gold project near its Plutonic processing plant in Western Australia.
Old Highway sits about 40 kilometres south-west of the plant and already has a resource of 206,000 ounces at 3 grams per tonne gold.
It also has a reserve of 140,000 ounces at 3.2 grams per tonne gold. This supports an initial 4-year mine life at 35,000 ounces a year from the Zone 400 deposit.
The latest drilling was aimed at testing extensions outside the current resource envelope.
Results included 6 metres at 4.1 grams per tonne gold, 5 metres at 4.7 grams per tonne gold, and 2 metres at 17.4 grams per tonne gold.
Catalyst also reported other hits, including 12 metres at 3.7 grams per tonne gold, 5 metres at 3.7 grams per tonne gold, and 2 metres at 9.1 grams per tonne gold.
The company said some of these results fill the gap between deeper drilling and the shallower hits reported in February.
What Catalyst is trying to build
Old Highway is part of the company's broader plan to grow production from the Plutonic Gold Belt.
Catalyst currently produces about 100,000 ounces of gold a year from the belt. Its longer-term plan is to lift that to around 200,000 ounces a year by adding new sources of ore.
Management said the Old Highway development plan will mirror Trident, starting with a small, self-funded open pit before moving into a longer-life underground mine.
These deposits also sit close to an existing processing plant, which could help lower development costs compared with building a new operation from scratch.
Foolish Takeaway
The drilling update looks solid, but it hasn't been enough to change the direction of the share price today.
Nonetheless, the business still has plenty working in its favour. It is producing gold, generating cash, and trying to build a larger mine plan around the Plutonic Gold Belt.
After a 15% fall in a month, I think the selling looks a bit harsh. Catalyst is still drilling around deposits that could feed an existing processing plant.
