Faraday Copper (TSX:FDY) is moving closer to an updated resource at its Copper Creek Project, which has been helped along by the discovery of near-surface supergene copper mineralisation in recent drilling.
The junior explorer, which has a market capitalisation of C$160.3 million ($178.9 million), was targeting near-surface supergene copper mineralisation in its phase-three drilling program to better understand the distribution of oxide mineralisation.
Five holes were drilled near the Globe breccia and two near the Copper Giant breccia.
The results of seven holes drilled in the phase-three program have come back showing expanded near-surface supergene oxide and secondary copper sulphide mineralisation.
Faraday intersected 10.08m @ 3.62% copper from 65.92m – about 30m below surface – at the Globe breccia while north of the breccia drilling returned a hit of 38.9m @ 0.51% copper from 3.55m.
Meanwhile, at the Copper Giant breccia, drilling delivered an intercept of 27.46m @ 0.5% copper from 6.1m.
Faraday notes this intercept includes near-surface copper oxide, transitioning to copper sulphide mineralisation from 21m downhole.
Copper oxide mineralisation is a product of weathering of primary copper mineralisation.
CEO Paul Harbidge says the results demonstrate the continuity of supergene mineralisation within the first 40m from surface.
“We have confirmed the presence of an enrichment blanket with high copper grades at Globe and expanded copper oxide mineralisation to the north,” Harbidge says.
“Historically, there has been limited drilling targeting copper oxide mineralisation across the deposit, and we see the potential to significantly expand the near-surface oxide resource through additional drilling, ultimately producing copper cathode early in the project life to significantly enhance shareholder returns.”
Faraday completed phase-three drilling in April 2025 and has undertaken 40,000m of drilling beyond the current resource.
Vice President of Projects and Evaluations Zach Allwright says the opportunity to delineate additional near-surface oxide mineralisation in future drill programs is highly encouraging.
“These high-grade oxide domains have demonstrated excellent recoveries via heap leaching and offer the potential to optimise the project staging with high-margin cathode production upfront as part of the initial pre-strip, prior to transitioning to copper production from sulphides,” Allwright notes.
In February, Faraday released the results of metallurgical testwork that achieved high recoveries of up to 95% from samples taken from the Copper Creek Project in Arizona, US.
Results include locked cycle copper recoveries above 92% to a copper concentrate grade of around 31%, which Faraday says confirms a coarse grind and high copper recovery flowsheet with a “highly marketable, clean concentrate”.
The company expects to deliver an updated resource by the end of the third quarter.
The 3km-long Copper Creek Project currently hosts combined open pit and underground measured and indicated resources totalling 421.9 million tonnes @ 0.45% for 4.2 billion pounds of contained copper.
The project, which is Faraday’s flagship asset, is considered one of the largest undeveloped copper projects in North America with open pit and bulk underground mining potential.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Faraday Copper
