Duke Exploration Ltd (ASX:DEX) has increased its prospective exploration targets at Bundarra Copper Project in North Queensland to 10 after four more highly anomalous exploration areas were identified during a soil sampling program.
Duke is an Australian explorer with a portfolio of Tier 1 metal plays, holding majority interest in five tenements prospective for copper, gold and silver in wider Australia and smaller interests in further four copper-gold porphyry tenements in New South Wales.
The Bundarra Copper Project is the company’s flagship asset, capped by Mt Flora deposit which has a maiden inferred mineral resource estimate of 6 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.5% copper and 6.9 parts per million silver for 78,000 tonnes of copper and 3.6 million ounces of silver.
“Significant and exciting step”
“The results of the regional soils sampling survey program are a significant and exciting step forward in our expanded Bundarra resource development strategy,” Duke Exploration managing director Phillip Condon said.
“In addition to Mt Flora and the five previously known large anomalous areas in the southwest corner of the pluton, the soils survey has discovered an additional four new copper in soils anomalous areas of comparable size, for a total of nine copper soil targets in addition to Mt Flora.
“This provides important optionality in our resource development program to ensure the best of the anomalous areas are developed.
“The results of the VTEM (Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic) inversion geophysical analysis currently underway, will be combined with the soils to provide high probability targets for test drilling, evaluation and resource development drilling prioritisation.
“We anticipate the current quarter and next quarter to be very formative for the company and the development of the Bundarra Copper Project.”
Soil sampling results
The Bundarra Pluton (igneous rock intrusion) contact zone ridge line has now been completely mapped via soil sampling undertaken in an 80-metre by 80-metre grid.
A total of 18,979 soil samples were collected, revealing four new copper soil anomalies, each averaging 690 square metres, of very similar size to the Mt Flora deposit at 670 square metres.
A diamond drilling program testing three of these areas – Quorn, Isens and Rogers – has begun and is expected to be completed before the end of this year.
One of the new copper soil anomalies, 1.2 square kilometres in area, was discovered at the eastern margin of the pluton with no evidence of historic mining or exploration, offering further prospective exploration upside in future programs.
Future work program
DEX has a keen focus on the next quarter, in which it intends to produce an updated mineral resource for the Bundarra Project and specifically the Mt Flora deposit. In the near future the company will focus on:
- Finalise the timing of step-out extension RC resource drilling at the Mt Flora resource to test the new mineralisation discovered to the north;
- Continue accelerated pXRF soil sampling, to be completed by the end of the year, to sample the entire Bundarra Pluton to help prioritise resource development work;
- Accelerate and extend collection of electrical geophysical data over the entire Bundarra Pluton;
- Complete exploration diamond drilling to collect geological data to confirm targets mapped to date and help prioritise resource development work (started);
- Start RC drilling to determine the highest priority target for resource development drilling; and
- Provide all exploration diamond drilling assay results from the Prairie Creek Gold Project by November.