Olympio Metals Ltd (ASX:OLY, OTC:COPGF) is expanding its portfolio, securing an option to acquire an 80% stake in the Dufay Copper-Gold Project in Canada.
Prime target
The project can be found along the Cadillac-Lake Larder Fault Zone – commonly referred to as the Cadillac Break – in Quebec and is a prime target for copper and gold mineralisation.
“The Dufay Project offers Olympio significant strike exposure to one of the world’s premier mineralised structures, the famed Cadillac Break,” said Olympio managing director Sean Delaney.
The Cadillac Break is a well-known mineralised structure hosting more than 110 million ounces of gold across numerous deposits.
This acquisition is a low-cost, high-impact addition to Olympio’s stable of assets, and offers the potential to deliver meaningful results from a historically underexplored area in one of the world’s premier mineral provinces.
The Dufay Project itself spans 60 square kilometres and includes 10 kilometres of strike length along this prominent fault zone.
Easy access, limited drilling
The site offers easy access – it’s just 35 kilometres west of the Rouyn-Noranda mining centre and copper smelter, and can be reached via established road and rail infrastructure – allowing for year-round exploration activities.
The project is characterised by multiple high-grade copper occurrences, including historical rock chip samples of up to 7.66% copper at the Papitose Prospect and 6.78% copper at the Chevrier Prospect, which point to the area’s potential to host significant copper-gold mineralisation.
In particular, a 1.2-kilometre-long induced polarisation anomaly identified in 2011 remains untested, presenting a priority target for future drilling campaigns.
Historical activity in the area includes the Chevrier workings, which saw limited mining activity in the 1920s.
No drilling has occurred there since the 1980s, however, and the company regards the property as largely underexplored.
The project also features several syenite porphyry intrusions – geological features closely associated with copper-gold deposits in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt – which further enhance its exploration potential.
Drilling in new year
Olympio plans to commence drilling in January 2025, targeting the high-grade copper showings and untested geophysical anomalies.
In addition to exploration, the company intends to conduct a 40-square-kilometre heli-magnetic survey and further field mapping to refine its understanding of the project.
“The project offers a range of underexplored exploration targets, including high-grade copper showings that have never been drilled and compelling porphyry copper-gold geophysical targets that remain untested,” Delaney said.
“The project is adjacent to numerous large gold-copper mineral resources, with a major highway through the project directly to the Rouyn-Noranda copper smelter 35 kilometres to the east.
The project has significant potential to host porphyry copper-gold mineralisation, with exploration drilling planned to commence during the upcoming Canadian winter field season.”
Left: Vendors at Chevrier. Right: Chalcopyrite-rich sulphides at the Chevrier prospect.