Titan Minerals Ltd (ASX:TTM) is encouraged by results from the remaining six drill holes of its maiden eight-hole diamond drilling campaign at the Copper Ridge porphyry prospect at the Linderos Project in southern Ecuador.
Additional broad intervals of porphyry copper-style mineralisation were intersected from the surface in diamond drilling at Copper Ridge, with significant results.
Highlights
Hole CRDD22-006
- 72 metres grading 0.4% copper equivalent from 21 metres;
- 51 metres grading 0.4% from 373 metres; and
- 22 metres grading 0.5% from 524 metres.
Hole CRDD22-004
- 186 metres grading 0.3% copper equivalent from 196 metres, which also contains a gold-rich zone of 80 metres grading 0.4% from 286 metres.
Hole CRDD22-007
- 88 metres grading 0.3% copper equivalent from 266 metres.
Substantial copper-gold porphyry system
Titan CEO Melanie Leighton said: “These results wrap up the first drill program at our Copper Ridge prospect within our Linderos Project where outcropping porphyry copper style mineralisation has been discovered, with drilling now confirming a substantial copper-gold porphyry system from surface.
“This initial program of eight holes has returned highly encouraging results and our analysis highlights the potential for both lateral and depth extensions, as we vector into what we believe is the core of the porphyry system.
“Future drill plans are being designed to intersect the earlier-phase, higher-grade copper-gold porphyry mineralisation and we are excited to soon be underway with our next phase of drilling at Copper Ridge.
“It’s important to appreciate that copper grades returned from this initial campaign of drilling compare favourably with peer porphyry deposits which are currently advancing through development and earmarked for large-scale production in the near future.”
“Most notably, SolGold’s Alpala porphyry deposit contains a global resource of 3.2 billion tonnes grading 0.49% copper equivalent (0.35% copper, 0.23 g/t gold, 1.0 g/t silver) for 9.9 million tonnes of copper, 21.7 million ounces of gold and 92 million ounces of silver, and a proposed mining cut-off grade of 0.21% copper equivalent, with its higher-grade core commencing at a depth of 600 metres.
“Titan shareholders can expect strong news flow in what promises to be a very busy and exciting 2023.”
Porphyry experts
Titan has engaged porphyry expert Dr Steve Garwin in a technical consultant role. He has been instrumental in the guidance of SolGold’s exploration efforts at its Cascabel Project in Ecuador and the company looks forward to his valuable input.
Garwin is expected to arrive at the Linderos Project in early March and will provide mentoring and training to the geologists on site to ensure that the most important data is being collected in a systematic manner and that drill future targeting is optimised to ensure success.
The company will also continue its close working relationship with geochemist Dr Scott Halley, who is reviewing the Copper Ridge geochemistry.
Dr Halley’s extensive experience provides invaluable insight into the geochemistry of porphyry mineral systems which will aid in identifying vectors towards higher grade copper-gold mineralisation.
Next steps
- three-dimensional geological modelling to improve understanding of mineralisation controls and facilitate Phase 2 drill targeting;
- geochemical and spectral data being interpreted by Dr Scott Halley with the aim of understanding and vectoring towards higher grade copper-gold phases of mineralisation;
- assessing the amenability of an induced polarisation (IP) geophysical survey for mapping sub-surface mineralisation at Copper Ridge;
- petrographic analysis to determine alteration mineralogy and its relationship with associated sulphide occurrences;
- selection of representative samples to be sent for age dating to determine ages of porphyry intrusions and mineralisation events to build a geochronological model; and
- preliminary metallurgical test work soon to start to provide indicative recoveries for copper-gold-silver-molybdenum mineralisation.