Caspin Resources Limited (ASX: CPN) has kicked off drilling and geochemical soil sampling programmes at the company’s wholly owned Mount Squires Project in the West Musgrave region of Western Australia.
The project is prospective for copper-gold and nickel-copper styles of mineralisation.
Drilling Underway at the Duchess Prospect
Previous soil geochemistry has identified a zoned molybdenum (Mo) – lead (Pb) – copper (Cu) – gold (Au) anomaly covering an area of at least two sq. km, approximately four km southeast of the Handpump Prospect, referred to as the Duchess Prospect.
The element zonation of the anomaly is characteristic of deeply weathered porphyry copper systems in which copper (Cu), gold (Au) and lead (Pb) are usually strongly leached, whilst more immobile elements such as molybdenum (Mo)remain in-situ, proximal to mineralisation in the core of the system.
Additional zonation effects are observed in tin (Sn), thallium (Tl), bismuth (Bi) and selenium (Se), which are all common elements found in halos around intrusive porphyry systems.
Mount Squires is a very early-stage project located in a well-endowed, but under-explored province,” CEO, Greg Miles, said.
“We’re excited about finally getting back on the ground after a long pandemic-related disruption. The timing is excellent, while we wait for assays from our recent drilling at Yarawindah, we give our investors further exposure to discovery in another frontier with world-class potential.
“Our primary focus will be on the Duchess Prospect, which because of its unique element zonation and sheer scale, demands to be drill tested. We also recognise that we’re on the doorstep of one of Australia’s largest undeveloped nickel and copper deposits at Nebo-Babel.
“There are already multiple targets from limited exploration, and we think over time Mount Squires will grow into being a very important part of our portfolio.”
Drilling will initially be on broad-spaced centres, testing the core of the anomaly as well as at least seven km of strike, demonstrating the scale of anomalism in the broader prospect area.
Testing the Duchess Prospect is partly funded by the WA government Exploration Incentive Scheme. The Company is grateful for the continued state government support of greenfields exploration.
Following drilling at the Duchess Prospect, the rig will move to the eastern boundary of the project where we anticipate finding extensions of the West Musgrave trend that hosts magmatic nickel-copper mineralisation.
Drilling will search for mafic and ultramafic intrusive rocks that host strong copper mineralisation at the One Tree Hill Prospect, owned by OZ Minerals Ltd, only 200m from the tenement boundary.
The programme will utilise aircore drilling, which is fast and relatively cheap, although with limited depth penetration, but usually sufficient to test basement lithologies. Up to 10,000m will be drilled across both target areas and will take approximately 4-6 weeks to complete.