Great Southern Copper PLC (LSE:GSCU) CEO Sam Garrett talked with Proactive about the company's first assay results from phase one drilling at the Mostaza mine. Garrett highlighted the exceptional results, including a significant 600% increase in copper grade compared to historical data.
The drilling targeted hole EDH25, which previously showed 25m at 0.53% copper. Garrett noted, "These results, which are only a few meters away, essentially represent a 600% increase in the copper grade." This suggests potential underreporting in historical grades and offers new opportunities for the company.
Great Southern Copper is already planning the next phase of drilling, with results from eight more holes expected in the coming weeks. The company aims to extend its resource drilling within the mine and explore mineralization trends to the south, where promising signs have been identified..
Proactive: Let's get into it. You released the first assay results from phase one drilling at the Mostaza mine. Talk us through these results.
Sam Garrett: Well, these are exceptional and exciting results for us, Tylah. We've been reporting for a long time now that we've been showing high-grade copper in the drill holes. And we've assumed that there's going to be silver with it, but it's really nice to finally get those first results in.
Proactive: So what's encouraging and exciting about them at this stage?
Sam Garrett: Well, what's significant for us is that this particular hole was designed specifically to target and test the veracity of the historic coal results from an old drill hole program conducted in the 1980s. It's not quite a twin hole because we couldn't get it exactly aligned due to drilling inside a mine. But this was targeting hole EDH25, which intersected about 25m of 0.53% copper. These results, which are only a few meters away, essentially represent a 600% increase in the grade. That suggests to us that there's been a significant underreporting in the historical grade associated with this gold mine, which generates a lot of potential opportunities for us here.
Proactive: So where do you go from here? What are the next steps?
Sam Garrett: We're already planning the next phase of drilling. Mind you, we've still got results for another eight holes to come in, and they will come in over the next, I guess, two to four to six weeks. That will also assist with that planning. But we feel pretty confident that we'll be planning more resource drill holes within the mine and beyond. We will also be furthering our exploration program along trend to the south, where, for example, holes six and seven targeted really exciting mineralization some 250 metres south. So yes, a lot for us to do.