Aeris Resources Ltd (ASX:AIS) joint venture partner Helix Resources Ltd has identified an extension to the high-grade Main Lode copper shoot at the Canbelego JV Project in the Cobar region of NSW.
The extension was revealed in assays from three diamond drill holes completed in February 2022 at the project which is 70% held by manager Helix and 30% by regional copper producer Aeris.
High-grade intervals
Hole CANDD006 returned 5.3 metres at 3.4% copper from 421 metres downhole while a narrow high-grade interval of 1-metre at 4% copper was also intersected in CANDD007 beneath historic workings.
The former was drilled to test down-plunge of a high-grade massive copper sulphide zone which yielded 14 metres at 4.2% and was reported visually on January 19, 2022.
These new intercepts, two of the highest tenor in the Canbelego Project, lie at least 100 metres below the base of the Canbelego Main Lode inferred mineral resource.
“Getting depth extent”
Helix managing director Mike Rosenstreich said: “We are now getting some depth extent on the high-grade, massive copper-sulphide shoot structure – and there is excellent potential for it to develop more at depth.
"Excitingly, these results are, consistent with our Cobar style deposit model which is typified by parallel mineralised zones with very long vertical dimensions containing high-grade copper.”
Only minor copper-mineralised intervals were intersected in the third hole, CANDD009.
Detailed logging and re-interpretation of HLX’s recent drilling suggests the high-grade, massive copper sulphide shoot plunges steeply to the south, not to the north as previously thought.
New plunge direction
Geological interpretive work is ongoing but preliminary results highlight this new plunge direction may widen out the down-plunge potential and explain a ‘near-miss’ in hole CANDD005 constrained by the northern plunge interpretation.
Drilling resumed at Canbelego in late April. This mixed program of approximately 10,000 metres across 50 diamond core and reverse circulation (RC) drill holes is designed to test depth extensions of the Main Lode and scope out higher-grade outlines on the new lodes identified to the west.
In “strong position”
"The exploration team has focused on systematic, detailed geology resulting in a new interpretation of which direction the high-grade copper zone is trending,” Rosenstreich said.
“This might explain the near-miss in CANDD005 and now it really opens the depth potential of the Main Lode and it may also apply to the new parallel lodes identified earlier this year.
"We are in an incredibly strong position; well-funded, with an expanded full-time locally based exploration team who are making discoveries and technical breakthroughs with many targets to test on our large, strategic ground position.”
Drilling resumes
Drilling has resumed at Canbelego targeting high-grade extensions of the Main Lode down plunge below the current resource shell and the newly identified lodes to the west.
The drill rig will also be deployed to test the Caballero prospect, which is around 2.5 kilometres to the southeast of the Main Lode.
Previous drilling, auger geochemistry and surface EM surveys in this area suggest potential for near-surface copper mineralisation.
Planning work is also well advanced for major regional programs at both the Rochford and Collerina trends.