Castillo Copper (ASX:CCZ) reports assays received for holes RT_001RC and FG_001RC have verified ‘extensive’, shallow rare earth element (REE) mineralisation at the Broken Hill Project in New South Wales.
The company says result RT_001RX at Reefs Tank intersected 11m @ 1,078ppm TREO from 8m, and hole FG_001RC at Fence Gossan intersected 20m @ 609ppm TREO from surface including 4m @ 1,709ppm REO from 8m, and 11m @ 862ppm TREO from 58m.
These results also complement the known REE mineralisation discovered at the Iron Blow Prospect identified from assaying historical core drillhole DD90_1B3 which produced 8m @ 1,460ppm TREO from 150m-square.
Castillo Copper Chairman Ged Hall said: “The board is delighted with the new assays as they show consistent shallow REE mineralisation across a wide part of the Broken Hill Project’s East Zone.
“The board is delighted with the new assays as they show consistent shallow REE mineralisation across a wide part of the Broken Hill Project’s East Zone”
Moreover, the interpreted scale of this shallow REE discovery, within a mining friendly district is an outstanding result which has the potential to create significant value for shareholders.”
Castillo reports the new assays for Reefs Tank and Fence Gossan are in line with the previous results, and they extend the known mineralisation and in effect delineate a sizeable REE exploration footprint between Fence Gossan, Tors and Reefs Tank to channel future development work.
Although final interpretations remain contingent on receiving results for RT_002-4RC (Reefs Tank) and TT_005DD (Tors Tank), the board is already progressing further work to fully delineate the REE potential within the exploration footprint and at the Iron Blow Prospect including Tors Tank, Fence Gossan and Iron Blow.
At the Tors Tank Prospect, a comprehensive surface mapping and rock chip sampling campaign has just been concluded, and the collected samples which are now at the laboratory for follow up analyses should aid identifying incremental targets for drill testing.
The company reports a 200m by 200m grid has been devised at the Fence Gossan Prospect has been devised as a precursor to a hand auger surface sampling campaign which will aid determining the full scale of the REE mineralisation and pinpoint targets to drill test, and if successful, this could be deployed more widely across the exploration footprint.
In addition, a 20m bulk samples comprising comprising mostly clay and weathered pegmatite from FG_003RC is set to undergo metallurgical testwork to determine how readily REE mineralisation will liberate to form a concentrate.
At the Iron Blow Prospect, with assays showing REE mineralisation is apparent below 150m (from DD90_IB3), further core has been cut from 4m to 82m and sent to the laboratory for detailed analysis, and once returned this should provide solid insights into the underlying geology over circa 250m, especially if there is shallower REE mineralisation.
In turn, along with planned mapping and surface sampling this will build the case to identify and drill test priority target to determine the extent of REE mineralisation apparent.
While interpreting the assays for the Tors Tank Prospect, the company’s geology team noted all the drillholes returned varied moderate to high barium trace element readings, and the company states these were sometimes associated with, or on the margins of ‘high’ TREO zones.
Significant barium results from Tors Tank include 13m @ 6,388ppm Ba from 39m including 4m @ 10,000 Ba from 44m in TT_001RC, as well as 7m @ 1,150ppm Ba from 12m in TT_002RC, and 8m @ 1,510ppm Ba from 4m in TT_003RC.
Similarly at Tors Tank, all drillholes returned ‘high’ iron results from shallow, thick magnetite rich bands variably hosting some of the ‘higher’ cobalt mineralisation.
Castillo reports cobalt an an important and complementary critical mineral to Broken Hill Project’s East Zone following the REE discovery, and the company intends to improve the confidence and the grades of the current inferred mineral resource estimate (MRE), and the 2 new assay results across Reefs Tank and Fence Gossan are in line with expectations.
Castillo Copper is an Australian-based explorer focused on copper across Australia and Zambia, with a large footprint in the Mt Isa copper-belt district in northwest Queensland, 4 ‘high-quality’ prospective assets across Zambia’s copper-belt, a large tenure footprint proximal to Broken Hill’s ‘world-class’ deposit prospective for cobalt-zinc-silver-lead-copper-gold and platinoids, and the Cangai Copper Mine in northern New South Wales.
Images: Castillo Copper Ltd
