Cooper Metals Ltd (ASX:CPM) has bolstered its copper-gold exploration footprint by expanding its holding within the flagship Mt Isa East project in northwest Queensland.
The precious and base metals explorer has inked a binding term sheet to pick up 85% of a tenement within the highly prospective Mt Isa Inlier.
Within this province lies the Mary Kathleen Domain — an area that’s highly prospective for copper-gold mineralisation.
The domain plays host to a number of famous targets, such as Carnaby Resources Ltd (ASX:CNB)’s copper-gold discoveries at Nil Desperandum and Lady Fanny and historical mines like the King Solomon and Python prospects.
Looking ahead, Cooper’s strategy is to expand its tenure over highly prospective and underexplored areas within the iconic Mt Isa province.
“Becoming major player in Mt Isa Inlier”
Speaking to the expansion, Cooper Metals managing director Ian Warland said: “This exciting acquisition is part of Cooper’s strategy to become a major player in the Mt Isa Inlier.
“The company already has a commanding tenement position at its Mt Isa East Project, holding around 1,300 square kilometres of granted tenements.
“Upon successful grant of tenement application EPM28087, Cooper will hold up to ~1,500 square kilometres of tenure.
“Importantly, expanding its footprint in the Mary Kathleen Domain, a part of the Mt Isa Inlier recently subject to huge excitement as a result of Carnaby Resources copper-gold discoveries at Lady Fanny and Nil Desperandum, just south of Cooper’s existing tenure.
“These discoveries were made off the back of applying modern exploration methods over historical occurrences.
“Cooper has already identified several historical workings and conceptual targets for follow-up, most of which have no prior drilling, leaving the discovery potential wide open.
“I look forward to updating the market with our exploration progress over the coming weeks.”
New tenure
Cooper is set to own a large chunk of the EPM2808 tenement, which is just 10 kilometres to the northeast of the company’s existing tenure.
To complete the buy, CPM will hand over up to $70,000 in cash and cover all regulatory costs associated with the tenement grant.
Before it’s all settled, the acquisition needs to check some important boxes. Cooper is finalising due diligence and requires the tenement to be granted to the vendor before it can finalise the buy.
What’s most exciting about the new tenure is its position in the Mary Kathleen Domain, which plays host to Round Oak Minerals’ Barbara deposit, just 1.8 kilometres away from the tenement.
In the past, Barbara has hosted a resource comprising 4.7 million tonnes of ore, grading at 1.6% copper and 0.15 g/t gold.
Other notable properties — such as the Nil Desperandum and Lady Fanny targets — lie just to the south of Cooper’s existing tenure.
Since listing in late November 2021, Cooper has identified several key copper-gold prospects in the area, including the King Solomon and Python prospects — both historical mines within the Mary Kathleen Domain that are yet to undergo drill testing.
The King Solomon copper-gold prospect has a mineralised strike confirmed over 1.5 kilometres, with Cooper’s rock chip samples up to 16.65% copper and 0.69 g/t gold.
Meanwhile, the Python Prospect has returned rock chips up to 35.3% copper.
Next steps
Cooper will continue to conduct desktop evaluation and review of over the new tenement in a bid to identify potential copper-gold targets in readiness for the grant.
The explorer also commenced exploration on the Mt Isa East Project in late 2021 and is planning ground geophysics at the King Solomon and Python prospects to kick off in early 2022.