This article is a sponsored feature from Mining.com.au partner Lincoln Minerals. It is not financial advice. Talk to a registered financial expert before making investment decisions.
Lincoln Minerals’ (ASX:LML) Minbrie Project is entering a new phase on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, where the company is preparing to test a potential copper system identified across its key target area.
For Lincoln, the early work has been as much about access and relationships as geology. In a cropping region, exploration depends on understanding landholder operations and ensuring field programs can be planned respectfully around active farming.
That groundwork is now starting to translate into momentum.
Opening the gate
For any explorer, securing land access is the point where planning starts to become execution. At Minbrie, Lincoln has reached that point relatively quickly, with agreements now in place across the main Minbrie prospect area.
CEO Chris Wilcox says reaching that point unlocks the company’s ability to move forward.
“Having an agreement with the farmer around our main target zone opens up all the exploration programs we want to do,” he says.
“In cropping regions, progress depends on trust, understanding landholders, their operations, and how exploration can work alongside active farming.”
With approval in place, Lincoln is preparing to begin its first air core drilling program at Minbrie this quarter.
Testing a large mineralised system
Lincoln’s initial program is designed as a first-pass test of its broader Minbrie tenure, which hosts around 17km of prospective stratigraphy.
At the centre is a 29.5m copper intercept, with supporting lead, zinc, and silver, pointing to a potentially significant system. Wilcox describes it as the kind of intercept that “doesn’t come around often”.
“There’s a lot of metal within that zone. It shows there is potential for mineralisation out there. It’s just a question of how much,” he says.
The upcoming air core program will initially focus on a defined portion of this system, targeting untested strike around the known mineralisation to assess continuity and generate additional drill targets.
Rather than narrowing immediately onto a single point, Lincoln is using a wide-spaced approach to understand the broader system first, with results expected to guide follow-up drilling, including diamond programs later in the year.
Why shallow matters
One of Minbrie’s key advantages is depth.
The known mineralisation sits relatively close to the surface, allowing Lincoln to test the system efficiently without the need for deep drilling. For an exploration-focused company, that means faster turnaround from drilling to results and the ability to assess more ground within shorter time frames.
“It allows the company to move quickly,” says Wilcox.
“The air core program is expected to take several weeks. Assay results are typically returned around four weeks after drilling is completed.”
A copper story overlooked
Minbrie’s copper potential has not always been the primary focus of exploration in the area.
Previous work, including drilling by Centrex, targeted magnetite, leaving behind a significant archive of diamond core that Lincoln is now reviewing through a copper lens. Wilcox says only around 30% of that core has been reviewed so far, with the remainder still to be relogged and potentially reassayed where interesting intervals are identified.
This provides an opportunity to refine targeting without the need to redrill existing holes. It’s a cost-effective way to build understanding of the system.
A leadership reset
The shift toward copper reflects some broader changes at Lincoln.
Chris Wilcox joined the company in late October last year, alongside the appointment of a new chair. At that time Lincoln had been progressing its graphite assets toward development, but the strategy shifted.
“It became clear to us that focusing on exploring for copper was the right way to go.”
“My background is in exploration geology. Lincoln’s priorities now are discovery, target generation, efficient drilling, and building a pipeline of copper opportunities.”
While Minbrie leads the strategy, Lincoln is also working to build a broader copper pipeline. Across its southern Eyre Peninsula tenements, historical rock chip samples have returned grades of up to 11.1% copper and 0.6g/t gold — results that were never followed up with drilling.
These areas represent earlier stage opportunities, with plans for mapping and soil sampling aimed at defining future drill targets. At the same time, Lincoln continues to review additional opportunities that fit its criteria. Projects with strong prospectivity, good access, and near-term drill potential.
Managing legacy assets
While Lincoln’s graphite and magnetite assets remain part of the portfolio, they are no longer the primary focus. The company holds a large magnetite resource and a graphite inventory, both of which have seen significant historical investment.
Rather than advancing these assets internally, the company is exploring ways to unlock value through partnerships and collaborations. This includes an agreement with Revera Energy to assess potential green iron opportunities, as well as discussions with a North American small modular reactor developer regarding graphite supply.
The arrangements are early stage and non-binding but allow the company to retain exposure without diverting focus from copper.
What comes next
Over the next six to 12 months, Lincoln’s priorities are simple. The immediate focus is completing the air core drilling program at Minbrie, with drilling planned for this quarter. The program is expected to take several weeks, with assays typically returned around four weeks after drilling is completed.
From there, the company expects to move into follow-up drilling, including diamond drilling of the discovery intercept, later this year.
“I’m really keen to make sure that we generate and keep some momentum in the results coming through,” Wilcox says.
That momentum is helped by Minbrie’s location. The project sits around 15 minutes from Cowell and about an hour from Whyalla, where there is an existing mining workforce. The region also benefits from established roads, power, water access, flights into Whyalla and Port Lincoln, and ferry access across Spencer Gulf to the Yorke Peninsula.
For the company, that infrastructure does not make a discovery, but it could matter if exploration success leads to something larger. In a sector where remote projects can face long lead times and heavy development costs, having people, services, transport, and utilities already nearby gives Minbrie practical advantages from the outset.
From access to answers
With the groundwork now in place, the next phase will be defined by what comes out of the ground. The upcoming air core program will test whether Minbrie’s known intercept is an isolated result or part of something broader across the system.
With follow-up drilling already planned and additional targets emerging across the tenure, Lincoln Minerals is positioning itself to build continuity in its exploration results, rather than relying on a single outcome.
In a region better known for crops than copper, Minbrie is shaping as an early-stage test of a new direction. One that will ultimately be measured by scale, consistency, and what the next round of drilling reveals.
Write to Kate Ryan at Mining.com.au
Images: Lincoln Minerals
