Aruma Resources Ltd (ASX:AAJ) is excited about the potential of its newly acquired Bortala Copper Project in the Mt Isa copper belt of Queensland, having already identified several promising target areas for copper-gold mineralisation in an initial review of the tenure.
The company says the targets are hosted in favourable geology, physical structures and geophysical settings.
Historical exploration focused on outcropping epithermal-like veins over a 500-metre strike at the R9 target, which generated results of up to 1.9 g/t gold in rock chips and various drilling results up to 18 metres at 0.18% copper, 2 metres at 0.25 g/t gold, 4 metres at 0.36% lead and 5 metres at 0.44% zinc.
High potential for IOCG mineralisation
“Having recently announced the acquisition of the Bortala Project as part of a portfolio of copper and uranium exploration projects, we are encouraged by this initial appraisal of the project,” Aruma Resources managing director Glenn Grayson said.
“We see significant potential, highlighting the area around the R9 copper-gold anomaly.
“Notably, the presence of coincident uranium and copper-gold mineralisation underlines the project’s IOCG potential, which will be a core focus of our exploration programs.
“Bortala already displays a significant target footprint, with numerous prospective areas identified, but remains largely under-explored.
“In combination, this presents the company with an exciting pipeline of exploration from which to drive shareholder value.”
IOCG or iron oxide copper-gold deposits are a common form of copper and gold mineralisation often associated with other valuable minerals like uranium, bismuth and rare earth elements.
These deposits typically form within 'provinces' where several deposits of similar style, timing and genesis form within comparable geologic settings.
Bortala sits immediately south of 29Metals’ high-grade Capricorn Copper Mine, which held a mineral resource estimate of 60.8 million tonnes at 1.8% copper in 2022 and milled 1.7 million tonnes of ore at 1.7% copper.
From here, Aruma intends to carry out surface sampling and geophysics surveys to better target its upcoming drilling program, which the company plans to complete this year, subject to the results of AAJ’s exploration efforts.