Castillo Copper Ltd (LSE:CCZ, ASX:CCZ) has fielded better-than-expected extraction results from metallurgical testing on drill core extracted from The Sisters prospect of the Broken Hill Alliance Project’s East Zone in far west New South Wales, producing a potentially viable concentrate.
The best outcomes from these beneficiation tests include:
- Cobalt: 200 parts per million (ppm) head-grade up to 2,500ppm post-test-work; 12x upgrade
- Copper: 520ppm head-grade up to 16,000ppm (1.6%) post-test-work; 30x upgrade
- Gold: 0.02g/t gold head-grade up to 3.87g/t gold post-test-work; more than 190x upgrade
The company’s board says its primary focus for the East Zone going forward will be an increase in confidence for the area's current inferred mineral resource estimate, which stands at 21,556 tonnes of cobalt and 44,260 tonnes of copper.
“Exceptional metallurgical results”
“The board was pleasantly surprised upon learning of the exceptional metallurgical results, especially nearly 4 g/t gold and 1.6% copper which provide new dynamics to follow up,” Castillo Copper managing director Dr Dennis Jensen said.
“However, the board’s current prime focus is to increase the confidence in the inferred cobalt resource with a highly targeted drilling campaign across several prospects, with planning to be finalised shortly.”
CCZ’s geology team is finalising optimal cobalt targets across several prospects for an inaugural drilling campaign, which the company intends to implement once approvals have been secured – to date, Castillo has secured landholder approval and mapped out access routes.