Buxton Resources (ASX:BUX) is on track to start maiden diamond core drilling at its Wolverine Project in Arizona, US, in November.
The program comprises three diamond core holes for about 1,650m, testing outcropping porphyry copper-molybdenum (Cu-Mo) mineralisation across the Wolverine and Copper Chief targets. Neither target has been drilled previously.
Two holes, P1 and P2, will test the Wolverine prospect, while P3 will target Copper Chief.
At Wolverine, outcropping mineralised porphyry dykes intrude Proterozoic granitoids, offering the potential to test the system at shallower depths than in covered parts of the district.
A 2024 drone-magnetic survey mapped a 1,200m by 250m cluster of northeast-trending magnetic anomalies coinciding with mineralised porphyry dykes at surface.
Reconnaissance rock chips adjacent to the drill sites returned up to 14.15% copper (Cu) and 1,160 parts per million (ppm) molybdenum (Mo) from separate samples.
Dating to 69.6 million years ago (Laramide age), the target forms part of the same porphyry system as the neighbouring Copper Wolf Project. Copper Wolf, now 100% owned by IGO (ASX:IGO), previously recorded a 626.8m intersection of porphyry Cu-Mo sulphide mineralisation.
The Wolverine Project comprises Buxton’s 100%-owned claims together with the adjoining Copper Chief ground, which Buxton holds under a lease and option agreement.
Buxton has extended its Bureau of Land Management notice of operations to April 2028 and amended it to cover up to four drill pads.
The company has installed dedicated water-supply bores and constructed access tracks and drill pads to contractor specification ahead of rig mobilisation. It is in the final stages of contractor selection, with several indicating availability for a November commencement.
“These are outcropping porphyry copper-molybdenum targets, which sit within the same Laramide-age system as the neighbouring Copper Wolf Project,” Managing Director Martin Moloney says.
“The targets have strong geological, geochemical and geophysical support from Buxton’s own exploration programs and have not previously been drill tested.”
Buxton plans to evaluate the wider area during the Arizona winter field season with additional mapping and geochemical surveying.
Buxton Resources is an Australian explorer focused on copper-gold and other discoveries across Western Australia, including the Madman Project in the Paterson Orogen.
Write to JC Villarba at Mining.com.au
Main image: Buxton Resources
