Castillo Copper Ltd (LSE:CCZ, ASX:CCZ)’s copper and lithium operations across Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia are cracking along, while the company’s plans to expand into Zambia are gaining momentum.
Since it last provided an update, operations have been proceeding without a glitch, but a hold up at the lab means that assay results are a little way off, with the result that the option agreement to acquire the Litchfield and Picasso lithium projects has been extended.
Castillo has a large footprint in the Mt Isa copper-belt district across northwest Queensland, which harbours a number of high-grade targets and a sizeable untested anomaly. The company is also prospecting at four assets in Zambia, the second-largest copper producer in Africa.
Northwest Queensland Copper Project
Castillo's drilling campaign at Arya Prospect has wrapped up and core from five drill holes sent for analysis.
Preliminary field observations were promising and the company is confident of strong exploration potential in the area. If this optimism is justified, a larger drilling campaign will kick off in the first half of 2022.
“Our team on site has done a superb job completing five drill-holes in demanding conditions," managing director Simon Paull said.
"Moving forward, the board is optimistic the geological interpretations will be positive and enthusiastically await assay results."
Of the company's Litchfield and Piccasso lithium projects, Paull said the board hoped to receive assays shortly which should conclude the due diligence process.
Litchfield Project, Northern Territory
Delays at the laboratory on the results of more than 650 surface samples from this project have compelled the company to extend the option acquisition agreement to allow for the completion of due diligence.
The board remains optimistic that the pegmatite outcropping at the project – noted in vendor geological reports – could potentially host lithium mineralisation.
Castillo hopes this mineralisation will be contiguous between the Litchfield Lithium Project and Core Lithium’s Finniss Lithium Project (JORC-compliant ore reserves: 7.4 million tonnes at 1.3% Li2O) and awaits the assay results with interest.
Picasso Project, Western Australia
In November 2021, members of Castillo’s geology team spent time at Picasso Lithium Project reviewing pegmatite outcropping in the high-density corridor. The team noted a 10-kilometre zone of pegmatite features in the north-eastern part of the tenure – this significantly exceeds government mapping.
Heavy overgrowth meant the team was unable to review outcropping pegmatites on the western boundary, but given its proximity to Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR)’ Buldania Project, which has a JORC-compliant resource at 14.9 million tonnes at 0.97% Li2O, this remains an area of significance for future exploration.
Zambian push
The company’s Zambian geology team is now working on the inaugural drilling campaign for the Luanshya Project, with 14 potential targets assessed following a recent Induced Polarisation (IP) survey.
Castillo's Zambian IP survey team progressing the campaign.
The IP survey team is currently at the Mkushi Project, progressing the campaign and focusing on areas with known surface copper anomalies.
When this is done, a geophysicist will interpret the results, reconciling these with historical geochemical findings and detailing potential targets for follow up drill-testing.