Cooper Metals Ltd (ASX:CPM) has wrapped up a detailed gravity survey at its Mt Isa East Copper-Gold Project in northwest Queensland with new prospective areas highlighted.
Government funded survey
The survey, funded under the Queensland Government’s 2024 Collaborative Exploration Initiative (CEI), has picked out several areas for further exploration.
“Cooper continues to build its pipeline of targets at Mt Isa East and is also assessing potential acquisitions to grow shareholder value,” managing director Ian Warland said.
The survey covered 150 square kilometres, with a nominal 500-metre station spacing, which was reduced to 100-metre spacing at the King Solomon and Brumby Ridge copper-gold prospects.
“Importantly, this new detailed gravity survey improves the station spacing by four times compared to the historical data,” Warland said.
This four-fold improvement in data resolution is expected to provide key insights into the mineralisation potential of the region.
Strong copper-gold
At King Solomon, the gravity survey identified a gravity gradient coincident with the strongest copper-gold mineralisation (King Solomon 1), between a high gravity zone in the east and a lower gravity area to the west.
This gradient, extending north of King Solomon 1, suggests potential for further copper-gold mineralisation along a sheared lithological boundary under shallow cover.
At Brumby Ridge, the survey revealed a prominent north-east-trending structure, intersecting key lithological boundaries where previous drilling had returned high-grade mineralisation.
The gravity data also highlighted two additional NE trending structures, which are earmarked for follow-up exploration due to their potential to host further copper-gold mineralisation.
This regional gravity data is thought to highlight the juxtaposition of brittle and ductile units, favourable for forming faults and shear zones, which could act as traps for significant mineralisation.
New areas opened up
Several targets across the project area have been identified for further investigation.
“At Brumby Ridge and King Solomon, 100-metre infill data has highlighted key lithological contacts and structures important in focusing copper-gold mineralisation at these prospects, potentially opening up a new area of focus at both prospects,” Warland added.
“A review of the regional data has identified new targets of interest where the favourable structures may have formed at the contact between brittle and ductile lithological units highlighted in the gravity data.”
Cooper Metals continues to review the new gravity data alongside other geochemical and geophysical datasets, while expanding its pipeline of exploration targets at Mt Isa East.