Encounter Resources (ASX:ENR) has reported copper results from its first drilling at Tyrell in over a decade, with assays confirming one of the prospect’s thickest ‘high-grade’ intersections.
The company intersected 12.7m @ 4.90% copper (Cu) from 25.75m within a broader 44m @ 1.70% Cu from 8.1m in diamond hole EPT2431.
Tyrell forms part of the Parbo copper system within the company’s Yeneena Copper Project in Western Australia’s Paterson Province.
Encounter notes that the grades are more than double the existing Tyrell inferred resource of 2.9 million tonnes (Mt) @ 0.79% Cu, including 1.1Mt @ 1.27% Cu.
Managing Director Will Robinson says the result represents an ‘outstanding’ outcome from the first hole drilled at Tyrell since 2014.
“It is one of the thickest high-grade intersections we have seen at Tyrell, and 12.7m at 4.9% copper is exceptional,” Robinson says.
“Since the project was returned from our farm-in partners in 2025, our team has identified a significant NNE [north-northeast] structural corridor that captures both the copper sulphide mineralisation at Maitland and the shallow, high-grade copper oxide resource at Tyrell.”
The NNE-trending structural corridor, interpreted over 3km, bounds the ‘high-grade’ copper zones at both Tyrell and the nearby Maitland prospect. This creates a new search space for ‘high-grade’ copper, the company says.
Drilling extends across the Parbo system
Encounter also intersected copper at Maitland, returning 10.6m @ 0.30% Cu from 204.15m in hole EPT2433. The intersection sits beside an NNE-plunging copper lode that remains open and includes 10m @ 1.64% Cu from 164m.
Meanwhile, at the Griffin prospect, diamond drilling tested down-dip of historical intersections including 5.3m @ 2.50% Cu from 387.6m. Reverse circulation pre-collars intersected shallow oxide copper, including 16m @ 0.50% Cu from 32m and 20m @ 0.40% Cu from 36m.
Finally, the Armstrong prospect at the southern end of the 8km Parbo system returned 6m @ 0.60% Cu from 130m. Armstrong recently received an Exploration Incentive Scheme co-funded drilling grant of up to $180,000 for diamond drilling in 2027.
Encounter is planning further drilling at Tyrell, Maitland, Griffin, and Armstrong, alongside sighter metallurgical leach testing of oxide samples.
The company is also undertaking a strategic review of its copper assets, evaluating opportunities to unlock value and accelerate development. The Parbo results will also feed into this review.
Encounter Resources is a mineral explorer focused on the discovery of major copper and critical mineral deposits, including niobium and rare earths.
Write to Paula Fabe at Mining.com.au
Main image: Encounter Resources
