Castillo Copper Ltd (LSE:CCZ, ASX:CCZ) has pinpointed a series of copper targets that are ripe for drill testing at its Mkushi project in the prolific Zambian copper belt.
The explorer reviewed data from a geophysics report, which interpreted induced polarisation (IP) survey results against three known areas of copper soil anomaly at Mkushi.
Each anomalous area ranged between roughly 4 and 7 kilometres long, and the geophysicist’s report indicates they could host disseminated copper sulphide mineralisation, making them prime drill targets.
The results indicate there’s much more to explore at the Zambian copper asset, so Castillo is looking for a strategic partner to join it on the development journey.
“Numerous potential targets”
Speaking to the findings, Castillo CEO Dr Dennis Jensen said: “The IP survey results from the Mkushi Project are outstanding, especially as they throw off numerous potential targets to test-drill for copper mineralisation.
“More significantly, it complements the results from the Luanshya Project, which has 14 identified primary targets.
“Moving forward, the board is now actively seeking to align with a strategic partner to fully develop the Zambian assets.”
Survey says
The recent survey covered 40 pre-selected IP lines across 54 kilometres.
Castillo set out to test the project’s soil geochemical anomalism for potential disseminated copper mineralisation across three target areas, known as A, B and C.
The geophysicist’s report, which reconciled the geochemical and geophysical results, identified multiple high-priority areas to potentially follow up with test drilling.
Of these, four lines are considered clear illustrations of potential drill targets, because high chargeability is associated with copper anomalism at the surface.
In addition, the geophysicist’s report noted there is a major northeast-trending fault that cuts across the Mkushi Project, which could be the source of mineralising fluids in the region.
This is consistent with earlier findings from Castillo’s geology team, which identified two parallel shear zones between 2 and 3 kilometres apart that originate in the nearby Shi Yan Group’s (SYG) contiguous mining lease.
The fault structures and previously identified anomalous zones– areas A, B and C — are on the north and east boundaries of SYG’s operation.
Coming up
Moving ahead, Castillo hopes to bring a strategic partner on board to advance its Zambian assets.
This includes the multi-drill-target Mkushi copper play, as well as the Luanshya base metals asset, where Castillo is preparing for inaugural drill programs at both projects.
Outside of the Zambian copper belt, the ASX-lister is preparing a JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate for its BHA project in New South Wales.
And in Queensland, the company is waiting on assays from the Arya copper prospect and finalising the drill timetable for its Big One deposit.
About Castillo
Headquartered in Australia, Castillo is focused on searching for copper mineralisation across its home base and in Zambia.
It’s pursuing the following opportunities:
- A large footprint in the Mt Isa copper belt district in northwest Queensland, which hosts several high-grade targets and a sizeable untested anomaly;
- Four high-quality prospective assets across Zambia’s copper belt, which is the second-largest copper producer in Africa;
- A large tenure footprint proximal to Broken Hill’s world-class deposit, prospective for cobalt-zinc-silver-lead-copper-gold and platinoids; and
- The Cangai Copper Mine in northern New South Wales, which is one of Australia’s highest grading historic copper mines.