Los Cerros (ASX:LCL) has expanded its Q2 exploration work plan following a review of its Imou gold-copper Project, as part of its recently acquired and wholly owned exploration portfolio in Papua New Guinea.
The company says the Imou project represents a ‘large’ copper-gold (Cu-Au) porphyry project with associated epithermal targets within a district that is host to the multi-million-ounce Ok Tedi, Porgera, and Frieda River projects in Papua New Guinea.
Adding on, Los Cerros notes previous exploration conducted on the project focussed on a 3km by 1km Cu-Au porphyry target. This previous exploration was undertaken by international majors Kennecott and Cyprus Amax, and reported wide intercepts of shallow Cu-Au porphyry associated mineralisation including a higher-grade breccia zone.
“The porphyry mineralisation at surface has been confirmed by numerous historical drill intercepts”
Together with the Ono gold-copper project and the Veri Veri nickel Project, Los Cerros has 3 targets to be advanced in the first half of 2023. The goal of this exploration is to enhance the broad appeal and prospectivity of the project as part of a strategy to seek joint venture (JV) partners for porphyry-style targets, whilst focussing company expenditure on ‘high-grade’ targets such as Kusi.
Addressing the review of the project, Los Cerros Managing Director Jason Stirbinskis said: “The porphyry mineralisation at surface has been confirmed by numerous historical drill intercepts but we believe drilling at Imou has not intercepted the causative pulse of high-grade core of the porphyry system. Our review of the geological model has identified zones where we might find such a high grade early intrusive porphyry pulse and the company’s first fieldwork is designed to find further evidence to support this concept.
We are also eager to advance field work at Michael’s Creek and Bikaru epithermal targets in future programs. The gold grades of surface samples within these epithermal systems are very encouraging and consistent with our strategy of focussing on high grade opportunities in the company’s work plan.”
The company also notes the porphyry mineralisation encountered within previous drilling remains open along strike to the north and south, with potential for ‘high-grade’ copper-gold breccia intersected in drillhole IM19DD001 to be extended to the south where rock chip assays returned grades of 2.3% Cu and 0.24g/t Au.
This area is forecast to be one of the areas of focus for the upcoming field program of mapping, sampling, and trenching.
In addition, field work will also be conducted at the Michael’s Creek and Bikaru epithermal targets west of Imou, in which surface investigations delivered ‘very encouraging’ rock chip assays of 58.5g/t Au and 63.6g/t Au.
Los Cerros is an ASX-listed exploration and mining company that holds about 3,890km-square of exploration titles in across 5 regions of Papua New Guinea that are considered prospective for copper, gold, and nickel. The company also holds a dominant position within the Quinchia region of the Mid-Cauca Gold Belt of Colombia, which includes its 100% owned, 10,500 hectare Quinchia Gold Project.
