Havilah Resources Ltd (ASX:HAV) has doubled down on a shallow copper-cobalt sulphide lode during the latest spate of resource extension drilling at the Mutooroo Project Area (MPA) close to South Australia's border with NSW.
The campaign, designed to extend the Mutooroo copper-cobalt deposit’s open-pit resource as part of a pre-feasibility study, encountered relatively high grades of multi-element mineralisation.
Highlights include:
- 5 metres at 1.7% copper, 0.18% cobalt and 0.13 g/t gold, including 2 metres at 2.13% copper, 0.22% cobalt and 0.19 g/t gold; and
- 5 metres at 1.01% copper, 0.12% cobalt and 0.09 g/t gold, including 3 metres at 1.67% copper, 0.19% cobalt and 0.12 g/t gold.
Looking ahead, the field team at Mutooroo plans to resume drilling at some of Mutooroo’s shallow resource extensions.
Activity should kick off sometime next month when a more powerful compressor hits the deck at the copper-cobalt deposit.
“Boosting potential resources along strike”
Speaking to the results to date, Havilah Resources technical director Dr Chris Giles said: “These drill holes specifically targeted the sulphide zone at depths accessible to a conceptual open pit, with the objective of boosting potential open-pit copper-cobalt resources along strike from the established Mutooroo JORC mineral resource.
“A trend of increasing grade-thickness with depth in one drill section and discovery of a new hangingwall lode on another drill section are encouraging signs for material additional mineralisation.
“We plan to continue with the Mutooroo PFS open pit resource extension drilling program during February 2022, upon delivery and commissioning of a new more powerful compressor for the drilling rig operated by Havilah.”
Copper-cobalt assays
The latest round of reverse circulation drill holes were executed at the Mutooroo deposit under the pre-feasibility study’s open-pit resource extension program.
This campaign is designed to test for shallow, open-pit copper-cobalt sulphide resources along strike from the existing Mutooroo resource and conceptual open pit design, as well as below the shallow oxidised copper ore that was exploited via several historical mine shafts.
Previous Havilah drill holes encountered shallow oxidised copper mineralisation, which is expected to add materially to the near-surface open-pit resources in this area.
Earlier results of note included:
- 16 metres at 1.54% copper from 11 metres downhole;
- 13 metres at 1.11% copper, 0.2% cobalt and 0.07 g/t gold from 1-metre downhole;
- 7 metres of 0.72% copper, 0.035% cobalt and 0.44 g/t gold from 1-metre downhole; and
- 18 metres at 0.33% copper from 4 metres downhole.
During the latest round of drilling, exploration confirmed the presence of 1-to-5-metre thicknesses of copper-cobalt massive sulphide lode at Mutooroo.
Promisingly, this is consistent with historical records on the sulphide lodes, situated in cross-cuts within the mine workings in the vicinity.
Specifically, two drill holes pinpointed a trend of increasing grade-thickness within the copper-cobalt sulphide lode.
Havilah considers this encouraging because elsewhere at Mutooroo such trends have pointed to more than 15-metre thicknesses of sulphide mineralisation at depth.
Moving ahead, further deeper drilling beneath drill hole MTRC233 will be required to test this case.
Turning the soil at Mutooroo
Mutooroo is Havilah’s second advanced stage copper-cobalt project located within commuting distance of the mining centre of Broken Hill.
It contains 195,000 tonnes of copper, 20,200 tonnes of cobalt and 82,100 ounces of gold in a massive sulphide lode.
As such, Mutooroo is one of the largest and highest grade sulphide cobalt deposits associated with copper in Australia.
Cobalt is deemed a critical mineral and is used in high-performance lithium batteries to enhance charging characteristics.
Presently, much of the global cobalt production comes from the high sovereign risk Democratic Republic of the Congo, which does not have the same rigorous environmental, social and governance (ESG) regulations that are enforced in Australia.
Havilah is undertaking a PFS on the Mutooroo project as a proposed 1-million-tonne per annum throughput copper and cobalt producer, based on current JORC measured resources, initially from an open cut mine that transitions to a longer-term underground mining operation.
The present drilling campaign is designed to boost open pit resources to sustain an initial 5-year, open-pit mining operation.
About the Mutooroo Project Area
The Mutooroo copper-cobalt deposit’s surrounding project area is highly prospective for lode style copper-cobalt-gold mineralisation.
The company’s exploration strategy is to discover copper-cobalt-gold resources in the MPA that can support a central mining and processing operation centred on the Mutooroo deposit.
Havilah aims to systematically explore the MPA, with an experienced exploration geologist currently dedicated to this task.
Drilling at the Cockburn and Mutooroo West prospects was the first step towards executing this strategy and Havilah plans to drill several further promising prospects during 2022, including the Mingary Mine, Fallout and Green & Gold targets.