Magmatic Resources (ASX:MAG) has restarted drilling at the Corvette prospect within its 100% owned Myall Project following indications of ‘impressive’ scale and tenor of the copper-gold mineralisation.
The project is located about 60km north along strike of the Northparkes Mine, which is owned by China Molybdenum and Sumitomo. The ‘world-class’ Northparkes porphyry copper-gold deposits have a current combined resource and reserve base of 607 million tonnes at 0.55% Cu and 0.21g/t Au. Magmatic Resources is targeting similar Northparkes-style mineralisation and grades.
The company has drilled 10 diamond holes totaling nearly 8,000m, with every hole to date intersecting significant copper-gold mineralisation. Porphyry deposits provide more than 60% of global copper supply and are typically low grade (0.20-1% copper and 0.01-1g/t gold) and large tonnage (from 100 million to several billion metric tonnes).
Magmatic’s 2 porphyry projects, Myall and Wellington North, are located near the 2 largest porphyry mines in Australia, being the Northparkes and Cadia Valley Mines, respectively.
Assay results have now also been returned for the lower portion of 23MYDD422, confirming the longest mineralised intersection ever drilled in the Myall region: 23MYDD422 875.2m @ 0.21% Cu, 0.04g/t Au, and 6ppm Mo from 146.8m (base of cover), including 355.2m @ 0.38% Cu, 0.09g/t Au, and 5ppm Mo from 146.8m including 241m @ 0.45% Cu, 0.11g/t Au, and 7ppm Mo from 261m.
Given the ‘impressive’ scale and tenor of the copper-gold mineralisation in 22MYDD424, Magmatic has today (24 March) recommenced drilling at the Corvette Prospect, with new hole 23MYDD423 to step a further 100m into the untested area to the north. This drilling is expected to be completed in early April, with additional drilling to further test the geometry of the mineralisation in the northern part of Corvette also planned.
Commenting on the recommencement of diamond drilling at the Corvette Prospect, Magmatic Resources’ Managing Director Dr Adam McKinnon says: “We now have confirmation that every one of the ten holes drilled since the current program commenced at Myall have intersected significant copper-gold mineralisation. As the latest results from hole 422 demonstrate, we are exploring in an exceptionally large-scale mineral system that remains open or poorly tested in every direction.
The tenor of the results from our recent drilling at Kingswood were also highly encouraging, with hole 424 returning strong results for both copper and gold. Most importantly, mineralisation was encountered once again immediately below the cover, expanding the prospect footprint at least 150 metres to the east into an area previously untested by drilling. Taken together with the latest structural analysis that suggests that Kingswood and Corvette may be part of a single kilometre scale system, I couldn’t be more excited to see the next phase of diamond drilling getting underway at Myall.”
“As the latest results from hole 422 demonstrate, we are exploring in an exceptionally large-scale mineral system that remains open or poorly tested in every direction”
In the previous drilling update for the Myall Project, Magmatic reported that assay had been returned for the upper and middle portions of Corvette step-out hole 23MYDD422, producing the strongest mineralised intersection to date at the project. Final assay results have now been received for the lower portion of this hole, resulting in the largest mineralised interval ever drilled in the Myall region.
The recent intensive drilling at the Myall Project has allowed the company to conduct a detailed structural analysis of vein and contact geometries. Using measurements of over 1,000 sulphide veins of various types in the Kingswood-Corvette corridor, the analyses show an overwhelming east-northeast to northeast-striking mineralised vein orientation, as highlighted by the rose diagrams for B, C, and D veins.
Reprocessing of the high quality airborne magnetics dataset available for the area is also currently underway, with downhole magnetic data collected from recent drilling to be included in the analysis. While diamond drilling remains the principal exploration technique at the Myall Project, gravity and magnetic datasets assist with the overall geological understanding, leading to more effective prioritisation of follow-up drill targets.
Write to Adam Orlando at Mining.com.au
Images: Magmatic Resources Ltd
