Empire Metals Ltd (AIM:EEE) has said it will start the maiden drilling programme at the Pitfield copper project in Western Australia by the end of March.
After completing its £1.25mln fundraising earlier this month, the company said the reconnaissance drilling campaign will consist of 20 reverse circulation (RC) drill holes, covering a total of 3,100 metres at an average downhole depth of roughly 150 metres.
Empire managing director Shaun Bunn said the objectives of the drill programme are to better understand the geology and to determine the significance of the highly chargeable-highly resistive zones identified from the recent induced polarisation survey results.
He noted that soil sampling and surveying activities are continuing over the coming months to identify additional drill targets, with Empire “looking to commence a second drilling campaign once we have had the opportunity to interpret the results from this reconnaissance mission”.
Of the 20 holes, 16 will be focused on the Mt Scratch prospect area of the licence, where the company said it has identified an extensive, highly chargeable-highly resistive anomaly during recent surveys.
Empire holds a 70% interest in Pitfield, which is split into four granted exploration licences covering 1,042 square kilometres (km) and located near the town of Three Springs, 313 km north of Perth.
The project is situated with the Neoproterozoic Yandanooka intracratonic sedimentary basin, which the company said has “all the hallmarks of a ‘giant’ copper mineralised system, potentially containing multiple sediment-hosted stratabound copper (SSC) deposits”.
It noted that the Neoproterozoic has been associated with several of the largest copper SSC deposits discovered to date, including in the copperbelt running through Zambia and DR Congo.