Hawk Resources (ASX:HWK) has completed an 11-hole drilling program at its Cactus Copper-Gold Project in Utah, US, with visible copper mineralisation identified in eight holes across the 550m Comet-Cactus zone.
Four of the final five holes intersected visible mineralisation at the Cactus zone, including the two most northwestern holes drilled beyond the extent of historical work.
The final hole, DD26CT016, encountered a logged 45m mineralised zone at the northwestern end of Cactus, where a 250m gap remains between the hole and drilling at the New Years prospect.
A selective spot portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) reading from 45.2m downhole returned 35.5% copper (Cu). Hawk cautions that visual observations and pXRF readings are not substitutes for laboratory assays and cannot determine representative grades or mineralised intervals.
Copper was observed as chalcopyrite in veins, veinlets, fractures, coarse blebs, and disseminations, mainly within tourmaline breccia. In DD26CT012, mineralisation occurred in altered intrusive rock interpreted by Hawk to sit near the breccia margin.
Managing Director Scott Caithness says the final two holes indicate the mineralised zone may continue northwest towards New Years.
“The most exciting aspect of the drilling is the intersection of copper mineralisation in the last two holes, DD26CT015 and CT016, at the northwestern end of historical drilling into the Cactus deposit,” Caithness says.
The broader Cactus Corridor extends about 1km from the historical Comet deposit through the Cactus mine to New Years.
The Cactus mine produced a reported 1.3 million tonnes @ 2.07% Cu, 0.33 grams per tonne gold, and 7.36g/t silver between 1905 and 1920.
Hawk’s 2024 drilling at New Years returned 26m @ 1.31% Cu and 30m @ 0.78% Cu from surface. Earlier 2026 drilling at northwestern Cactus included 19.6m @ 1.25% Cu within 80m @ 0.48% Cu from surface.
Samples are being submitted to ALS (ASX:ALQ) in Nevada, with results expected in October. Subject to the assays, Hawk plans further drilling aimed at delineating an initial resource during the first half of 2027.
Hawk Resources is an Australian explorer with copper and gold projects in the US, lithium projects in Brazil, and the Olympus scandium project in Western Australia.
Write to France Pinzon at Mining.com.au
Images: Hawk Resources
