Cooper Metals Ltd (ASX:CPM) has begun a diamond drilling campaign to test the significant shallow copper and gold mineralisation intersected at its King Solomon 1 copper-gold prospect near Mt Isa in northwest Queensland.
The company’s flagship Mt Isa East Copper-Gold Project covers around 1,300 square kilometres of tenure with numerous historical copper-gold workings and prospects already identified for immediate follow-up exploration.
Mt Isa Inlier is highly prospective for iron oxide copper gold (IOCG), iron sulphide copper gold (ISCG) and shear-hosted copper +/- gold deposits.
The diamond drilling program at King Solomon is part of the company’s larger regional exploration push, which also includes planned RC drilling later this quarter over some of the copper-gold targets identified in Cooper’s extensive tenement portfolio.
The current drilling will consist of four holes for about 700 metres and will provide important structural and geochemical data from the three plunging shoots of higher-grade copper-gold mineralisation identified in 2022 RC drilling.
Copper will use the new drill hole information, along with data from a planned downhole electromagnetic survey (DHEM,) to design a campaign of deeper holes testing for depth extensions to the plunging shoots.
The company expects to be drilling for three weeks, before assaying and conducting its DHEM survey.
“King Solomon 1 copper-gold mineralisation extends for around 650 metres along strike in three higher-grade plunging shoots, where RC drilling in 2022 confirmed significant intercepts down to 170 metres below surface,” Cooper managing director Ian Warland said.
“Our expectation from the previous RC drilling and IP surveys is for significant depth potential at King Solomon.
"Detailed structural geology data from the diamond drilling which is targeted into the higher-grade portions of the three plunging shoots, should improve our geological model and aid in deeper phases of drill testing. We look forward to updating the market as information arises.”
King Solomon 1 prospect drill hole locations against IP chargeability and planned diamond drill holes.
Diamond drilling follows positive RC drilling
Cooper’s previous RC drilling at King Solomon 1 intersected copper-gold mineralisation over 650 metres of strike length. During RC drilling it identified three higher-grade south-easterly plunging shoots that remain open at depth.
The company followed up with IP surveys in late 2022, which also indicate a chargeability anomaly at depth particularly in the south-eastern portion of King Solomon 1.
The diamond drill holes are designed to target high-grade portions of copper-gold mineralisation near three RC drill holes, including from north to south:
- 22MERC055 - 17 metres at 1.7% copper and 0.38 g/t gold from 49 metres, including 4 metres at 6.2% copper and 1.31 g/t gold (western zone) and 9 metres at 2.5% copper and 0.25 g/t gold from 94 metres, including 5 metres at 4.2% copper and 0.39 g/t gold (middle zone) and 12 metres at 0.6% copper and 0.02 g/t gold from 148 metres, including 2 metres at 1.3% copper and 0.04 g/t gold (eastern zone);
- 22MERC016 - 17 metres at 2.2% copper, including 8 metres at 4.3% copper and 0.14 g/t gold; and
- 22MERC032 - 19 metres at 1.6% copper and 0.21 g/t gold from 123 metres, including 5 metres at 4.5% copper and 0.57 g/t gold.
Cooper will use structural and lithological information from the diamond drilling to improve the geological model and confidence in designing deeper drill holes to test King Solomon’s depth potential.
The DHEM survey will further aid interpretation.
In parallel, the company is hard at work at the Mt Isa East Project with geochemical sampling and mapping, which forms part of its preparation for RC drill testing of priority copper-gold targets to begin later this quarter.
What’s next?
- Finish diamond drilling, assays and interpretation.
- Start DHEM surveys over completed diamond holes.
- Plan follow-up drill testing at King Solomon.
- Start RC drill testing of regional targets,
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