Emmerson Resources Ltd (ASX:ERM) has hit visual copper intersections during a drilling campaign over the Hermitage Project in the Northern Territory’s Tennant Creek Mineral Field.
A maiden reverse circulation campaign (RC) turned the soil on native copper, malachite and chalcopyrite mineralisation at Emmerson’s wholly-owned Hermitage property.
Investors have responded positively with shares as much as 33.3% higher to 9.2 cents.
Hermitage is just one of a cluster of exploration assets in Tennant Creek’s northern corridor — an area that’s seen little modern exploration to date.
Drilling continues over the asset, with the first assay results expected before years’ end.
Confirming project potential
Commenting on the fresh findings, Emmerson managing director Rob Bills said: “The visual results from first-pass drilling at Hermitage provide immediate confirmation of the potential of the cluster of 100%-owned copper-gold-cobalt projects in the northern corridor of Tennant Creek that includes the nearby Jasper Hills."
“This drilling is giving new insight into the underlying geology of an area that is covered and has seen little previous exploration,” Bills added.
Fresh campaign
The first phase of Emmerson’s Hermitage campaign aims to establish the thickness, plunge and potential for extensions to the property’s historical mineralisation.
This project has not seen any systematic, modern exploration since the 1980s, so the company’s maiden RC campaign is venturing into new territory.
It’s particularly interested in following up high-grade copper and gold intersections uncovered in previous holes HEGD12 and HEGD05, which hit 9 metres at 12.8 g/t gold from 176 metres and 23 metres at 4.84 g/t gold and 3.7% copper from 203 metres, respectively.
First-pass findings
Early indications from two of the first drill holes in the maiden RC program — HERC002 and HERC003 — suggest a zoned ironstone that occurs close to the surface.
Specifically, Emmerson encountered 142 metres of ironstone in drill hole HERC003, with intermittent zones of visible copper.
That graded from malachite at 77 metres below the surface, to native copper from 135 metres, to chalcopyrite from 180 metres before the hole terminated in mineralisation at 192 metres.
Meanwhile, hole HERC002 hit malachite at 90 metres below the surface, then chalcopyrite from 120 to 150 metres.
So far, the true thickness of these various copper zones is unknown and will require further drilling to better understand the strike and plunge of the mineralisation.
In the meantime, drill rigs continue to work the soil at Hermitage, while Emmerson expects to report more definitive assays from the lab before the quarter ends.