Cooper Metals Ltd (ASX:CPM) has extended the copper-gold footprint using geochemical sampling across five prospects at the Mt Isa East Project in the resource-rich Mt Isa region of northwest Queensland.
The key prospects are Mafic Sweats South, Brumby Ridge, Long Slot, Raven and Yarraman, all within 10 kilometres of one another, which allows for initial RC drill testing in one campaign to kick off in September.
New geochemical sampling at the Raven copper-gold prospect has delineated a mineralised trend for around 300 metres, strengthening the validity of the VTEM anomaly coincident with the discovery gossan announced in July, where rock chip MER273 returned 26.7% copper and 2.49 g/t gold.
Portable XRF soil sampling at Mafic Sweats South defined a 400-metre-long copper-in-soil anomaly centred around shallow historical workings, where rock chip samples up to 12.05% copper confirm a mineralised vein system along the regionally significant Janice Fault.
Furthermore, the new Long Slot prospect consists of a historical calcite/copper mine, where geochemical pXRF soil sampling delineated strong copper anomalism around a significant north-trending fault zone.
Five key prospect areas
Cooper managing director Ian Warland said: “The Cooper team has completed thousands of pXRF soil samples and over 50 new rock chip samples on five key prospect areas in recent weeks.
“The geochemical sampling has been focused on a range of geophysical, geochemical and historical targets.
“The five prospects are within 5 to 10 kilometres of one another forming a convenient cluster, that allows for a single RC drill campaign to complete initial drill testing at each target.
“All prospects show strong copper anomalism in favourable lithologies and structural settings. I look forward to commencing the drilling in September as part of our strategy to rapidly and effectively test our pipeline of high-priority copper-gold targets.”
Prospect location map at Mt Isa East Project.
Forward plan
Cooper plans to complete reverse circulation (RC) comprising 12 drill holes across 1,000 to 1,500 metres over the five prospects.
Heritage surveys and regulatory approvals are completed for the five prospects, with ground access in progress for RC drilling in September.
The next steps at the project include:
- continue ground access for RC drilling;
- diamond drilling at King Solomon in progress;
- RC drilling to commence in September;
- Cooper has identified several copper-gold prospects for initial drill testing and plans to complete approximately 5,000m of RC scout drilling during 2023, testing some of the best prospects.