Helix Resources (ASX:HLX) is preparing to commence drill testing at the high-tenor copper zones within the Bijoux auger copper anomaly in New South Wales later this month.
During January 2024, Helix discovered Bijoux, where copper intercepts outlined a 200m long north-northwest-trending zone which is open to depth and along strike.
Bijoux is prospective for CSA-type copper deposits and represents an “important” discovery for the company, beyond its Canbelego mineral resource, which lies 9km to the north.
This upcoming reverse circulation drilling program is part of Helix’s ongoing target generation and testing program, which aims to uncover new copper and gold discoveries in the Cobar-Nyngan area of central New South Wales.
Helix, which has a market capitalisation of $13.05 million, is also considering conducting diamond drilling at Bijoux to provide structural information and samples for metallurgical testwork.
Managing Director Kylie Prendergast says the aim of the current exploration work is to uncover additional copper mineralisation in a near-surface setting to grow the existing mineral resources.
“Helix is treating this area as a copper camp that contains a series of robust surface copper geochemistry targets, and the strategy to discover new CSA-style copper lodes within these anomalous outlines,” Prendergast says.
“CSA-style copper lodes are high-grade, vertically extensive bodies of copper that can be continuous to depths of 2km. Helix has proven that viable CSA-style copper lodes occur on our tenements such as the copper mineral resources in the Canbelego main lode.”
Helix also recently received auger geochemical results, which have enhanced the delineation of the higher grade portion of the Bijoux copper anomaly.
Assay results for 230 infill auger samples, and a high-tenor northwest-trending over 500 parts per million (ppm) copper zone has been delineated over 480m by 120m within Bijoux.
The company reports the high-tenor zone is defined by 13 samples, with maximum copper assays returned 1,773ppm copper.
Helix notes that the northwest half of the copper zone has the highest copper assays in an area that has not been drilled previously, and which is immediately along strike of the previously defined copper oxide and sulphide mineralisation. This area will be a focus for the upcoming drilling program.
Prendergast adds “the new copper auger results clearly show the extension to the known drilled copper zone, providing an obvious pathway for the follow-up drilling to extend zones of higher-grade oxide and sulphide copper mineralisation.”
Further, infill and extensional auger drilling has begun in the Canbelego to Caballero corridor at the Canbelego Copper Project. Auger drilling is also in progress at the Muriel Tank Gold-Copper Project.
Meanwhile, geophysical contractors have been secured for the Cobar Project to conduct surface electromagnetic surveys on multiple high-priority targets. The company’s geologists are onsite to confirm logistics, access, and undertake reconnaissance mapping over the targets.
Helix Resources is a copper-focused explorer that holds a sizeable ground position, covering 3,300mkm2 in prolific copper producing regions in Australia.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Helix Resources
