Empire Metals Ltd (AIM:EEE) said it has added two new exploration licences at the Pitfield copper project in Western Australia.
These cover extensions to the north and south of the massive alteration footprint that’s being explored by the company.
Pitfield has the potential to contain multiple sediment-hosted stratabound copper deposits lying within what may be a much larger copper mineralised system.
A regionally extensive geophysical anomaly has been outlined over 40 kilometres by density, conductivity and magnetic susceptibility, likely caused by a massive, basin-scale alteration event.
Empire currently holds two exploration licences, covering 615 square kilometres, which extend over this massive alteration footprint and has applied for an additional two licences covering a further 426.7 square kilometres.
Exploration field work, including soil sampling, geological mapping has commenced, and these activities will continue in the first quarter of 2023 ahead of an intended drill programme to evaluate the economic significance of any SSC deposit.
"Recent geophysical surveys and geochemical mapping has identified a massive quartz-magnetite alteration footprint, extending over 40 kilometres north-south, with indications that the associated copper anomalisms may extend even further north and south,” said Empire’s managing director Shaun Bunn in a statement.
“Securing these additional exploration licences to the north and south at Pitfield is a major coup for the company, ensuring that we have maximum coverage over what we believe is an emerging Giant copper province," he added.
Empire recently completed the first stage of fieldwork at Pitfield, with over 400 soil and rock chip samples collected and submitted for assay. Geological surface mapping indicated extensive magnetite occurrence, particularly within the Mt Scratch siltstones, which is another important indicator of a massive thermal alteration event that potentially led to the formation of numerous deposits.