Gold heavyweight Newmont (NYSE:NEM) has launched its hunt for Northparkes-style porphyry systems adjacent to Kincora Copper’s (ASX:KCC) Fairholme Project in the Macquarie Arc of New South Wales.
Newmont this week kicked off a generative aircore drilling program at selected targets at Koonenberry Gold’s (ASX:KNB) Fairholme Copper-Gold Joint Venture Project, where the major is funding exploration to earn up to an 80% stake.
Koonenberry Gold Managing Director Dan Power says the program, which is fully funded by Newmont, is testing several geophysical targets which are “look-alikes” for Evolution Mining’s (ASX:EVN) Northparkes Copper-Gold Mine – Australia’s second largest porphyry mine hosting 4.4 million tonnes of copper and 5.2 million ounces of gold.
Koonenberry believes the Fairholme Copper-Gold JV Project is prospective for Northparkes-style porphyry systems and potentially intermediate sulphidation Cowal-style epithermal systems.
“The Fairholme igneous complex is considered by Koonenberry to be one of the least explored portions of the fertile Junee-Narromine Belt with Ordovician basement geology obscured by less than 150m of transported cover,” he says.
The region is host to a combined metal endowment of over 88 million ounces of gold plus copper.
Koonenberry’s Fairholme Project sits adjacent to Kincora’s project, also named Fairholme and located along the southern sector of the Junee-Narromine Belt in the Cowal block.
Both of the licenses that make up Kincora’s Fairholme Project are contiguous to, and along strike from, Evolution Mining’s 13-million-ounce Cowal Mine.
Kincora Copper CEO Sam Spring says the announcement this week by Koonenberry Gold that earn-in partner Newmont has commenced another early stage generative aircore drilling program at their Fairholme Project is pleasing from a couple of perspectives.
“It shows the world’s largest gold miner is undertaking greenfield exploration adjacent to our Fairholme project, reiterating that the Cowal block of the Macquarie Arc, where both of the Fairholme projects are located and is now fully pegged, is a world-class gold and porphyry copper terrane offering true tier-one scale discovery potential,” Spring tells Mining.com.au.
“Kincora’s Fairholme project already hosts a number of significant scale mineralised systems and walk up drill targets, including an open 1.6km gold corridor at the Gateway target.
“The project fits the profile that the major mining groups are increasingly looking to rebuild their growth pipelines with.”
Spring notes that Koonenberry’s Fairholme Project is at a more of a comparable stage to Kincora’s Jemalong Project, with the company’s Fairholme Project being more advanced and more favourably located to the Cowal Mine.
Kincora previously adopted a project generator model, which is a proven model used widely in Canada.
The junior explorer, which has a market capitalisation of $7.5 million, has recently secured five asset-level deals with partners that unlock potentially over $60 million worth of multi-year exploration funding for the projects.
Kincora is also in talks with other potential partners, and anticipates a further seven potential asset-level deals for its projects that are more advanced and/or proximal to existing “world-class” porphyry mines to progress to possible conclusion, with two expected in the near term.
“Kincora remains in active discussions with a number of potential asset level partners for our remaining 100%-owned porphyry projects, including the Fairholme and Jemalong projects, which are strategically located adjacent to Evolution Mining’s flagship Cowal mine,” Spring tells this news service.
Spring says Koonenberry’s announcement highlights favorable copper and gold anomalies in the southern portion of the licence, including on the immediate licence boundary to Kincora’s ground.
“The most southern line of drilling on our licence boundary has some decent copper and gold numbers – which are not too far north on Anomaly 2 and Driftway C – and should help further illustrate the appeal of our Fairholme and Jemalong projects,” he says.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Kincora Copper
