Alma Metals Limited (ASX:ALM) has confirmed extensive porphyry copper-molybdenum mineralisation up to 750m along strike from the published mineral resource estimate at Briggs in Central Queensland with new RC drilling results.
The company has now received assays Briggs, Mannersley and the Fig Tree Hill copper project from a drilling programme that forms a significant component of the exploration commitment made by Alma under an Option and Earn-In Joint Venture Agreement signed with Canterbury Resources Limited in August 2021, through which Alma can ultimately reach 70% ownership of the project.
Twelve RC holes were completed for 1,446m, and tested the NE side of the known Briggs Central Inferred Mineral Resource (currently 143Mt @ 0.29% Cu in Inferred Resources at a 0.2% Cu cut-off grade) and the Northern and Southern porphyry targets that outcrop along strike.
The intention of the drill programme was to test the potential for extensions of the current resource. The results clearly show that such extensions are likely, and the large surface geochemical anomaly appears to be a good indicator of mineralisation at depth.
All but one of the holes intersected significant widths of porphyry and porphyry related copper- molybdenum mineralisation. Several holes were terminated in strong mineralisation but were unable to be drilled deeper due to high water pressures. Future drilling will use equipment capable of much deeper drilling.
Key conclusions of the drilling programme are:
- Porphyry copper-molybdenum mineralisation was intersected in drilling at both the Northern and Southern Porphyry targets, significantly increasing the strike length of known mineralisation.
- The drilling confirmed that copper-molybdenum mineralisation occurs beneath a surface geochemical anomaly at >1,000ppm copper with a strike-length of at least 2,000m and extends well outside the existing mineral resource estimate envelope at Briggs Central.
- Higher grade zones of copper mineralisation are present in several settings, including: zones of highly intense quartz veining with unidirectional solidification textures (UST), in volcanic sediments immediately adjacent to the Briggs Granodiorite.
Alma and Canterbury are currently planning a major drilling campaign to commence in Q2, 2022 to further evaluate this very large copper deposit.
