Astute Metals NL (ASX: ASE) has commenced high-impact exploration diamond drilling at the Leichhardt East Prospect, located within its 100%-owned Georgina Basin IOCG Project in the Northern Territory.
The Leichhardt East prospect is a multi-faceted IOCG prospect, with a number of characteristics that make it a compelling drill target – including modelled highly dense rocks, proximity to a ‘near-miss’ hole that intersected copper, bismuth, silver and uranium, and a favourable position between two regional- scale faults.
The planned 500m hole will be drilled in the coming fortnight.
IOCG deposits are economically attractive and typically large copper-gold deposits that may have other by-products such as uranium or bismuth. Australian examples include Olympic Dam, Prominent Hill and Carrapateena (South Australia), Ernest Henry (Northwest Queensland) and smaller, higher-grade variants at Tennant Creek, such as Juno and Warrego.
The attractiveness of IOCGs as a deposit class is clear from recent acquisition activity, including the BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) consolidation of operating IOCG assets in South Australia with the acquisition of Oz Minerals in mid-2023 for $9.6 billion.
Eighteen months prior, Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN) acquired the Ernest Henry mine from Glencore PLC in a late 2021 transaction valued at $1 billion10. The mine had been in operation as open cut and underground for 23 years at the time.
“A considerable amount of science and the latest in geophysical modelling and lateral geological thinking has gone into the definition of this compelling IOCG target at Leichhardt East. Now it is down to the team on the ground to drill a 500m diamond hole to evaluate the target," Chairman, Tony Leibowitz, said.
“This represents one of the most compelling discovery opportunities in our portfolio and we are very much looking forward to seeing what the hole will reveal. We will keep the market informed as the hole progresses over the coming days.”
