Savannah Resources (LON:SAV) has reported high-grade copper, zinc and gold from its latest drill programme at Blocks 4 and 5 in Oman.
The assays back so far had confirmed Aarja's copper mineralisation, but significant gold with grades of up to 1.9g/t was an unexpected bonus it said.
“Gold was not previously assayed for and these results suggest that it could be a very valuable by-product credit,” said David Archer, chief executive.
Savannah wants to start producing copper at Aarja from multiple deposits on Blocks 4 and 5 from late 2017, by when it hopes that the recent slide in the price of the metal will have led to global deficits and strengthening prices. Copper prices have fallen by around a third this year.
"Our next steps will include defining Exploration Targets for the Aarja, Bayda and Lasail Mines within the Block 4 and 5 areas and then moving these into JORC compliant Mineral Resources," Archer added.
Dog's Bone and much of the Aarja Deposit has existing underground access, Savannah said, which could be brought online quickly.
Best of the assays were 9m at 4.86% copper, 1.54% zinc, 1.3g/t gold and 37.3g/t silver from a depth of 103m at the Dog’s Bone zone at Aarja.
At Mahab 4, best results were 6.6m at 6.92% copper, 5.6% zinc, 0.3g/t gold and 23.8g/t silver from 67m.
Drilling has been slower than planned due to mechanical problems.