Helix Resources Ltd (ASX:HLX) has completed a 612.7-metre-deep diamond drill hole at the Canbelego Joint Venture (JV) Project in the Cobar Basin of western New South Wales, investigating a major off-hole conductive target prospective for copper mineralisation.
The company says this drill hole (CANDD015A) appears to have “just missed” the target conductor plate, instead intersecting minor copper sulphide mineralisation thought to be adjacent to high-grade copper shoots.
Helix has been experiencing difficulties with directional drilling, having to suspend the other daughter drill hole (CANDD016A) due to a rig breakdown, but the ground team and board are confident they will find exploration success in the new year.
Helix “highly confident and excited”
“It appears that we have just missed the target. These conductive targets, which we consider represent high-grade copper shoots, remain untested,” Helix Resources managing director Mike Rosenstreich said.
“They are unique in terms of their large-scale and conductive intensity compared to anything ever detected around the Canbelego Main Lode.
“After a well-deserved Christmas break for all of the exploration team and drill crew we will resume our hunt, reassessing means to get better directional control on our drilling.
“Hopefully, with the ground conditions improving we can also resume and accelerate our regional target generation work.
“The team and I remain highly confident and excited about the prospectivity at Canbelego and, indeed, our wider tenement holdings.
“Fortunately, we have a strong cash position and are very well positioned to make major discovery inroads in 2023.
“On behalf of the team and the board, I wish all of our stakeholders and investors a relaxing Christmas break and a happy and safe New Year.”
Helix will resume drilling and further downhole electromagnetic (DHEM) surveying from completed drill holes on January 9, 2023.
Canbelego JV Project
Helix Resources is exploring and developing the Canbelego Project in a joint venture with Aeris Resources Ltd (ASX:AIS), another ASX-listed explorer and producer with base and precious metal operations across Australia, including in the same region as the JV project.
READ: Aeris Resources partner Helix to resume testing of major copper targets next month
Canbelego is a 40-square-kilometre tenure prospective for copper, with a historical namesake mine that produced about 10,000 tonnes of hand-picked ore at about 5% copper until 1920.
Mining stopped at the water table, at just 80 metres of depth; a JORC-2004-compliant copper deposit was defined on the tenure at 1.5 million tonnes at 1.2% copper (inferred) and the project holds multiple untested regional targets.
Canbelego Copper Project location map.
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