Castillo Copper Ltd (ASX:CCZ, LSE:CCZ) is moving to optimise the Cangai Copper Mine in northern New South Wales and plans to upgrade confidence in the mineral resource estimate (MRE) and model by leveraging extensive drilling work completed since the original estimate in 2017.
The company will use results from 34 reverse circulation and two diamond-cored drill holes for a total of 5,222 metres to form the new resource model.
The 2017 inferred resource is 3.2 million tonnes at 3.35% for 107,589 tonnes of contained copper metal.
Best results from the pool of drilling samples include:
CC0023R:
- 11 metres at 5.94% copper, 2.45% zinc and 19.13 g/t silver from 40 metres, including 3 metres at 8.1% copper, 2.84% zinc and 23.42 g/t silver from 41 metres; 1-metre at 10.25% copper, 1.68% zinc and 32.50 g/t silver from 48 metres; and 1-metre at 7.53% copper, 6.04% zinc and 30.60 g/t silver from 50 metres.
- 5 metres at 1.56% copper, 4.43 g/t silver and 0.4% zinc from 92 metres including 3 metres at 2.22% copper, 6.38 g/t silver and 0.60% zinc.
- 4.39 metres at 5.06% copper, 2.56% zinc and 20.1 g/t silver from 49.9 metres.
“Cangai Copper Mine’s underlying geology is impressive but more work is required to fully understand the system,” Castillo Copper geologist and director David Drakeley said.
“As such, the board sees considerable potential to create incremental value for shareholders by updating the 2017 MRE for subsequent drilling campaigns and geophysical surveys.
“Moreover, as a standalone project, Cangai Copper Mine still delivers significant exploration potential with two bedrock conductors, open at depth, yet to be drill-tested.
“Once the updated MRE and key geological interpretations are complete, the board looks forward to outlining optimal steps to fully develop Cangai Copper Mine.”
Castillo intends to factor bulk sampling done on historical stockpiles at Cangai into the new model to support a higher confidence in the new MRE, as well as a drone topographic survey and re-positioned mine workings that are accurately georeferenced.
The company expects to complete the new model in about 4 to 8 weeks, after which the board will review findings and determine the optimal way to develop Cangai’s full potential.