Caravel Minerals (ASX:CVV) has announced a mineral resource upgrade for its Caravel Copper Project in a result that sees the operation recognised as Australia’s largest undeveloped copper project.
Data from the latest round of exploration work, which encompassed RC and diamond drilling at the Bindi deposit, has resulted in an upgraded mineral resource of 1.18 billion tonnes @ 0.24% copper and 48 ppm molybdenum. This includes a 53% increase to 2.84Mt of contained copper at a 0.1% Cu cut-off grade, with a further 32% increase to 2.46Mt contained copper at a 0.15% Cu cut-off.
Caravel notes that the cut-off grade has been adjusted from 0.15% Cu to 0.1% Cu following revised economics delivered in the project’s November 2021 scoping study.
The upgrade comes as a result of 7,740m of diamond drilling and 20,233m of RC percussion drilling at the project’s Bindi deposit.
Work was tasked with delineating grade and distribution of copper-molybdenum mineralisation found within the Bindi Hinge Zone and Bindi East Limb, which are expected to be the focus of initial mining work at the project.
A significant portion of the upgraded tonnage comes from higher-grade, shallow ore, with drilling also extending the resource at depth.
Bindi deposit 2021 block model and resource pit shell displaying copper gradesBindi now encompasses 100Mt of measured resource above 150m at a 0.01% cut-off grade, which the company expects to convert to reserves in an upcoming pre-feasibility study due in early 2022. This is expected to provide sufficient ore for the first five years of mine operation.
A mine plan currently under development is expected to result in ‘significantly’ higher-than-average resource grades during the early stages on mine operations, which lower-grade ore being stockpiled to potentially supply feed for later expansions plans or beneficiating work.
Images: Caravel Minerals Limited
