Caspin Resources Ltd (ASX:CPN) has started drilling and geochemical soil sampling programs at the Mount Squires Project in the West Musgrave region of Western Australia.
Drilling has begun at the Duchess prospect, where previous soil geochemistry identified a zoned molybdenum-lead-copper-gold anomaly covering an area of at least 2 square kilometres.
Drilling is expected to take around four to six weeks to complete.
In a handy financial advantage for the company, testing is partly funded by the WA Government's Exploration Incentive Scheme, which supports greenfields exploration.
Caspin is drilling approximately 10,000 metres and will also collect 2,500 soil samples at the project, which is in an underexplored area and is highly prospective for copper-gold and nickel-copper styles of mineralisation.
Mount Squires Project with prospect locations.
The element zonation of the anomaly is characteristic of deeply weathered porphyry copper systems in which copper, gold and lead are usually strongly leached, whilst more immobile elements such as molybdenum remain in-situ, proximal to mineralisation in the core of the system.
Additional zonation effects are observed in tin, thallium, bismuth and selenium, which are all common elements found in halos around intrusive porphyry systems.
Early stage but well endowed
Caspin’s chief executive officer Greg Miles said, “Mount Squires is a very early-stage project located in a well-endowed, but under-explored province.
"We’re excited about finally getting back on the ground after a long pandemic-related disruption. The timing is excellent, while we wait for assays from our recent drilling at Yarawindah, we give our investors further exposure to discovery in another frontier with world-class potential.
“Our primary focus will be on the Duchess Prospect, which because of its unique element zonation and sheer scale, demands to be drill tested.
"We also recognise that we’re on the doorstep of one of Australia’s largest undeveloped nickel and copper deposits at Nebo-Babel.
"There are already multiple targets from limited exploration and we think over time Mount Squires will grow into being a very important part of our portfolio.”
Drilling will first focus on broad-spaced centres, testing the core of the anomaly as well as at least seven kilometres of strike. It is expected this will show the scale of anomalism in the broader prospect area.
Looking for extensions
Once drilling at Duchess is done, Caspin will move the rig to the eastern boundary of the project where it is seeking to find extensions of the West Musgrave trend that hosts magmatic nickel-copper mineralisation.
Drilling will search for mafic and ultramafic intrusive rocks that host strong copper mineralisation at the One Tree Hill Prospect, owned by OZ Minerals Ltd and only 200 metres from the tenement boundary.
Aircore drilling will be used, despite limited depth penetration, due to its quick and cheap nature, with up to 10,000 metres to be drilled across both target areas.
Soil geochemistry expansion
Caspin has been encouraged by recent soil sampling results that identified the Duchess Prospect, which is likely the result of utilising relatively new ultra-fine fraction assay methodology.
This technique is designed to minimise the dilutionary effects of sand cover which is prevalent in the West Musgrave region.
Soil sampling at Mount Squires Project, June 2022.
Caspin will expand the soil geochemistry program by collecting about 2,500 samples along strike and elsewhere across the project area as it looks to identify new anomalies on both the Handpump Duchess and West Musgrave Trends for later reconnaissance-style drill testing.