Helix Resources Ltd (ASX:HLX) has begun preparing for a drilling campaign at the Collerina Project in New South Wales next month following up electromagnetic (EM) survey results that point to copper mineralisation at four target areas.
In early 2021 Helix flew an airborne EM survey (VTEM) over the Quanda and Fiveways targets at Collerina and then followed up with a ground-based survey that confirmed the prospectivity of four of five targets identified in VTEM.
EM surveying is described as a vital tool for copper exploration by HLX, especially as none of the targets have been drill tested to date.
Growing exploration pipeline
“These are terrific new copper targets in our growing pipeline of exploration opportunities within the Cobar region,” Helix Resources managing director Mike Rosenstreich said.
“Quanda-Hermidale and Fiveways are located along a regional scale copper trend yet have never been drilled.
“I am surprised and very pleased with the ‘four out of five’ strike rate confirming airborne EM anomalies with the ground-based surveys.
“I was on site last week and the exploration team is very excited to be building up a significant inventory of copper targets across all our tenements. Their planning is progressing well, and the company anticipates to be testing these prospects with the drill bit as early as August.”
Helix is basing its exploration approach on Aeris Resources Ltd (ASX:AIS)’s successful copper exploration to the north at the Tritton operations, which holds a mineral resource estimate of 6.7 million tonnes at 1.9% copper and 0.6 g/t gold.
Highly prospective targets
“These new targets possess significant scale with overall levels of conductance that are subtle but distinctive," Rosenstreich continued,
“Given the history of copper discovery using electromagnetics within the region, the detection of an anomaly with ‘scale’ is the critical factor rather than the absolute conductivity and permits fairly straightforward drill testing.
“Having just completed the Canbelego Main Lode resource update our workflow is now focused on making new discoveries.
“I look forward to providing further updates as we continue to build up momentum on our inventory of targets and soon start to systematically drill test them.”
Helix’s main focus is on making new copper discoveries. To that end, the company is undertaking regional geochemical sampling and geological mapping and says it is well-funded with an experienced local exploration team.