Magmatic Resources (ASX: MAG) has recommenced reconnaissance mapping and sampling over the Black Ridge copper trend on the company's 100%-owned Parkes Project in NSW.
The prospect is located 15 kilometres southeast of the Northparkes Copper Mine and comprises surface copper-gold-silver anomalism in a zone extending over six kilometres parallel to the Parkes Thrust.
“I am very pleased to see on-ground exploration work recommencing at our 100%-owned Parkes Project. The Black Ridge prospect is one of the many targets at Parkes that has the potential to develop into a major new discovery. Located only 15 kilometres southeast of the Northparkes Mine, in rocks that are clearly fertile, I’m actually a little surprised how under-explored the region has been," Managing Director Dr. Adam McKinnon, said.
“Black Ridge combines kilometre-scale copper-in-soil anomalism, fantastic results from recent rock chip sampling and historic workings with outcropping mineralisation. With further work at the prospect to include a major IP geophysical survey, I am excited to see what the area may produce.”
The current work forms part of the company’s continued ramp-up of exploration efforts across all three of its East Lachlan projects following execution of a Farm-in and JV Agreement at the Myall Project with Fortescue and successful placements in March and May this year.
Following a review of the discovery potential of the Parkes Project earlier in the year, several prospects were selected for follow-up work including MacGregors (orogenic gold), Buryan (porphyry copper and gold) and Black Ridge (structurally controlled copper-gold), with work now commenced at the latter.
The Black Ridge prospect is hosted in the Ordivician-age Goonumbla Volcanics, which are separated from metasediments of the Silurian-age Forbes Group to the east by the Parkes Thrust. The area contains multiple small-scale historical copper workings and prospecting pits that host outcropping mineralisation.
Coincident with these workings, a portable XRF (pXRF) soil geochemistry survey conducted by Magmatic over the area has highlighted a coherent, multi-kilometre copper trend extending from the company’s northern licence boundary to the limit of sampling in the south.
Given the very large scale of the anomalism and the strong results from the recent rock chip sampling at Black Ridge, Magmatic’s technical team are planning significant additional work in the area over the coming quarter.
Further mapping and sampling will commence shortly ahead of a planned 23 line-kilometre induced polarisation (IP) geophysical survey. The IP survey will cover a significant portion of the prospective trend with the aim of narrowing-down potential targets for future reverse circulation and/or diamond drilling.
