Alma Metals (ASX:ALM) has extended the ongoing drilling program at the Briggs Copper Project in Queensland, with a new hole which will test below the peak of the surface copper-in-soils geochemical anomaly.
Data from the program is anticipated to inform ongoing technical studies and support further resource expansion and metallurgical domaining, enhancing project definition.
This news comes after completing deep core drillhole 25BRD0037 which was designed to drill through the resource estimate and test versatile time-domain electromagnetic anomaly.
Alma, which has a market capitalisation of $14.85 million, says logging of the drill core indicates that porphyry copper-style mineralisation is present along the entire length of the core with the strongest copper mineralisation and alteration visible 100m either side of the contact.
The assay results are expected within three weeks, with assays for the remainder of the hole to follow over the subsequent four to six weeks.
Managing Director Frazer Tabeart says drilling of the deepest hole to date provides validation of the block model developed from the resource estimate.
“The deeper drilling shows that the VTEM anomaly is spatially related to narrow sulphide veins associated with distal porphyry mineralisation in volcanic sediments, adding to our geological knowledge of this huge system,” Tabeart says.
“With copper prices remaining strong and supply constraints persisting globally, the timing of our Scoping Study, now nearing completion, positions Alma well to advance Briggs as a meaningful contributor to Australia’s next-generation copper pipeline.”
The Briggs Project, covering 245km2, hosts a resource of 415 million tonnes @ 0.25% copper and 31 parts per million molybdenum.
Alma Metals is an Australian copper explorer focused on its projects in Queensland and the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Alma Metals
