Cyprium Metals Ltd has remodelled a mineral resource estimate for the Maroochydore Copper-Cobalt Project in Western Australia from almost 20,000 metres of historical drill core data, subsequently estimating a resource of about 1.6 million tonnes of contained copper and 84,000 tonnes of cobalt.
The company also executed a binding sale and purchase agreement with Solstice Minerals Ltd for the Meekatharra Project, offloading the non-core asset in return for $1 million in cash and up to 6 million shares, subject to conditions.
Maroochydore’s inferred resource holds a higher-grade component of 106 million tonnes (at 0.67% copper rather than 0.43%) for 712,000 tonnes of copper and 33,000 tonnes of cobalt (at 0.45% cut-off rather than 0.25%).
The Maroochydore project is in the Paterson region of Western Australia, 81 kilometres from the company's Nifty Copper Complex.
Project will support operational expansion
“Maroochydore has seen little attention over the last decade - previous work was focused on the near-surface copper oxide mineralisation,” Cyprium Metals executive chair Matt Fifield said.
“Cyprium recognised the same sedimentary copper mineralisation style that we have at Nifty and turned our attention to the potential of the copper sulphide resource.
“We remodelled the historical resource from first principles and included an additional 19,456 metres of core and reverse circulation (RC) drilling that was available.
“The results are clear – Maroochydore is a very large, near-surface sulphide resource with a higher-grade zone that has high potential to be a medium-term expansion project for Cyprium.
“An important moment for Cyprium, and a potential meaningful source of Australian copper and cobalt.”
The company says the sedimentary copper mineralisation at Maroochydore mirrors Nifty in its continuity of mineralisation and resource scale.
Targeting high-grade domain
CYM intends to study the higher-grade domain with an eye to developing it as a satellite feed operation for the company’s nearby Nifty Copper Complex mill and concentrator, just 81 kilometres away.
“By going back to first principles and challenging status quo thinking we have defined a large, shallow and flat copper sulphide resource with a higher-grade zone,” Fifield continued.
“There’s more work that can be done with the existing data. It’s very clear that this resource has the potential to support a large-scale operation.
“We will do further work to determine how to incorporate this and build off our existing copper processing infrastructure in the Paterson.
“Yet another step towards building Australia’s next great copper company.”
Non-core asset sold
Cyprium has executed a binding Sale and Purchase Agreement which will see Solstice Minerals acquire the company’s non-core Meekatharra Project, for the following consideration:
- $1 million (excluding GST) in immediately available funds on completion of the divestment;
- 3 million fully paid ordinary shares in the capital of Solstice on completion. The Solstice shares will be subject to a holding lock until, in respect of 50% of the shares, 6 months after completion, and in respect of the remaining 50% of the shares, 12 months after completion; and
- 3 million Solstice shares if, within 4 years of completion, the company issues an announcement to the ASX of a mineral resource within the land the subject of the tenements which contains more than 250,000 tonnes of contained copper applying a cut-off grade of not less than 0.20% copper.
Canaccord Genuity acted as financial adviser to the company in respect of the divestment.