Last checked at 7 Apr 2021 07:00
07 April 2021
CASTILLO COPPER LIMITED("Castillo" or the "Company")
11 new targets at Mt Oxide as exploration resumes
Castillo Copper Limited (LSE and ASX: CCZ), a base metal explorer primarily focused on copper across Australia and Zambia, is delighted to confirm that improving weather conditions should enable a resumption of exploratory work in April 2021 at the core Mt Oxide Project in the Mt Isa copper-belt district of Queensland, Australia. In addition, further forensic work has uncovered 11 new targets and further details on the Arya Prospect's geological potential.
Highlights
· Exploratory work to resume at the flagship Mt Oxide Project as the wet season draws to a close:
o A geophysical survey campaign, designed to extend known mineralisation at the high-grade Big One Deposit, will commence this month; and
o Drilling crew set to resume work at Big One Deposit and then move across to the Arya Prospect to test several sizeable bedrock conductors.
· More recently, the Queensland government's Department of Resources granted the final key tenement (EPM 27440) - directly north of the Big One Deposit - that expands the core Mt Oxide Project footprint by circa 23% to 980km2
· Within the newly granted ground are five well-profiled targets (Crescent, Pancake, Flapjack, The Wall & Johnnies) that are prospective for IOCG, Mt Isa Style & shear-hosted copper mineralisation
· Further forensic work by Castillo's geology team has uncovered the following:
o Historical reports showing there are potentially more targets within the vicinity of the Arya Prospect; and
o An incremental 11 targets within the tenure that are prospective for various styles of copper-gold mineralisation.
· Encouragingly, complementing 10 already documented prospects, there are now 21 targets that will feature in forward exploration plans
· Overall, these are timely developments that enhance the Mt Oxide Project's exploration potential for copper mineralisation, at a time when there is an impending global supply deficit
Next steps
· Within the next few weeks, the geology and geophysical teams intend to visit site and commence work at the Big One Deposit and Arya Prospect
· Once the geophysical survey has been complete and reconciled, the next phase of the drilling campaign will commence
Simon Paull, Managing Director of Castillo Copper, commented: "Behind the scenes our geology team has been flat out readying for a resumption of exploration work at the flagship Mt Oxide Project. The Board is targeting to have drilling teams back to site as soon as practical to complete work at the Big One Deposit then commence at the Arya Prospect. Holistically, with 21 targets across the Mt Oxide Project, Castillo now has a significant pipeline of copper-focused exploratory work ahead, coinciding with an impending global supply deficit."
EXPLORATION WORK TO RESUME
With an improvement in weather conditions, Castillo's geology team are planning a return to site and resume exploration activities at the Mt Oxide Project. Within the next few weeks, a geophysical survey will be undertaken at the Big One Deposit that will focus on extending known mineralisation and uncovering additional anomalies.
Once these results are known, the drilling team will complete the campaign at the Big One Deposit and then move across to the Arya Prospect to test several sizeable bedrock conductors. Interestingly, recent forensic work by Castillo's geology team found several more anomalies proximal to the Arya Prospect.
Tenure grant
Recently, the Queensland government's Department of Resources granted the northern most tenement that comprises the Mt Oxide Project. As a result, the footprint has increased by circa 23% to 980km2 and formally brings five well profiled copper prospects into the fold (Figure 1) that were part of the 2020 geological study.
FIGURE 1: KNOWN PROSPECTS WITHIN NEWLY GRANTED TENURE | |
Crescent | IOCG target with Mt Isa style mineralisation potential |
Flapjack | IOCG target |
Pancake | IOCG target with Mt Isa style mineralisation potential |
Johnnies | Shear-hosted copper and supergene ore potential |
The Wall | Mt Isa style mineralisation potential |
Eleven new targets
Ongoing forensic work by Castillo's geology team identified an incremental 11 targets across the Mt Oxide Project which are prospective for various styles of copper-gold mineralisation (Figure 2 & Appendix).
As such, on a combined basis, there are now 21 viable targets across the Mt Oxide Project for copper mineralisation which delivers a significant pipeline of development work ahead and enhances forward exploration potential.
FIGURE 2: ELEVEN NEW TARGETS AT MT OXIDE PROEJCT | ||
Prospect | Mineralisation style | Anomalous elements |
Amanda | IOCG | Au, Co, Ni |
Big Ben | Gold - Copper | Cu, Co |
Black Mountain | Copper Manganese and Uranium - structural enrichment | Cu, Co, Zn, Ag, Mn |
Bomb Gorge | Gold | Cu, Co, Zn, Ag, Au |
Crow Bar | Shear-hosted copper and supergene ore potential | Cu, Co |
Josephine | Copper | Cu, Co |
Little Nathan | Gold - Copper | Cu |
Mercy | Shear/Dyke hosted Epigenetic Copper | Cu, Co |
Old Man Creek | Shear/Dyke hosted Epigenetic Copper | Cu |
Pom Pom | Gold | Cu, Co |
Unicorn | Mt Isa style | Cu-Pb-Zn |
In addition to this release, a PDF version of this report with supplementary information can be found on the Company's website: https://www.castillocopper.com/asx-announcements/
For further information, please contact:
Castillo Copper Limited | +61 8 6558 0886 |
Simon Paull (Australia), Managing Director Gerrard Hall (UK), Director | |
SI Capital Limited (Financial Adviser and Corporate Broker) | +44 (0)1483 413500 |
Nick Emerson | |
Luther Pendragon (Financial PR) | +44 (0)20 7618 9100 |
Harry Chathli, Alexis Gore, Joe Quinlan |
ABOUT CASTILLO COPPER
Castillo Copper Limited is an Australian-based explorer primarily focused on copper across Australia and Zambia. The Company is embarking on a strategic transformation to morph into a mid-tier copper group underpinned by its core projects:
· The Mt Oxide project in the Mt Isa copper-belt district, north-west Queensland, which delivers significant exploration upside through having several high-grade targets and a sizeable untested anomaly within its boundaries in a copper-rich region.
· Four high-quality prospective assets across Zambia's copper-belt, which is the second largest copper producer in Africa.
· A large tenure footprint proximal to Broken Hill's world-class deposit that is prospective for zinc-silver-lead-copper-gold.
· Cangai Copper Mine in northern New South Wales, which is one of Australia's highest grading historic copper mines.
The Company is listed on the LSE and ASX under the ticker "CCZ."
Competent Person Statement
The information in this report that relates to Exploration Results for "Big One Deposit" is based on information compiled or reviewed by Mr Mark Biggs. Mr Biggs is both a shareholder and director of ROM Resources, a company which is a shareholder of Castillo Copper Limited. ROM Resources provides ad hoc geological consultancy services to Castillo Copper Limited. Mr Biggs is a member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (member #107188) and has sufficient experience of relevance to the styles of mineralisation and types of deposits under consideration, and to the activities undertaken, to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, and Mineral Resources. Mr Biggs holds an AusIMM Online Course Certificate in 2012 JORC Code Reporting. Mr Biggs also consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on information in the form and context in which it appears.
APPENDIX: ELEVEN NEW PROSPECTS AT BIG ONE DEPOSIT
PROSPECT NAME | TARGET STYLE | ANOMALOUS ELEMENTS | GEOLOGY COMMENTS |
Amanda | IOCG | Au, Co, Ni | Occurs within the Lochness Formation of the Myally Sub-group and is associated with an east fault on the north-west limb of a large regional north plunging anticline. |
Big Ben | Gold - Copper | Cu, Co | This gold and minor copper anomaly occurs within the upper stratigraphic unit of the Quilalar Formation, near its contact with the upper quartzite member of the same Formation. Situated over Quilalar Formation sediments outcropping as variably alluvial-covered sandy arenaceous to dolomitic sands, silts and shales, the anomaly is confined to a small valley bound by moderate relief quartzite ridges. |
Black Mountain | Copper | Cu, Co, Zn, Ag, Mn | Reconnaissance rock-chip sample returned anomalous copper from the ferro-manganiferous outcrop forming the prospect. Analysis of the Uranium - Manganese Black Mountain prospect suggested leaching from a Cretaceous Sandstone cap. |
Bomb Gorge | Gold | Cu, Co, Zn, Ag, Au | Confined to slightly recessive outcrop of a sandy dolomitic siltstone within which is a low ridge-forming, strongly quartz-veined pink feldspathic quartzite horizon. Dolomitic units show rare veining. Veining concentrated in pink feldspathic quartzite which acts as a brittle horizon. Gold could be sourced from the quartz veining. |
Crow Bar | Shear-hosted copper and supergene ore potential | Cu, Co | The Crowbar Prospect covers a conformable succession of Myally sub-group feldspathic sandstones overlain by Quilalar quartzites and sandstones. The Quilalar Formation has been intruded by Webbera Granite a medium grained felsic pluton. The mineralization consists of a small area of malachite specks and pods in brecciated Upper Myally unit dolarenites and calcsilicates, around the margins of granite intrusions. There are no workings. |
Josephine | Copper | Cu, Co | Occurs within a fault-bounded block of middle-lower Surprise Creek Formation sediments (Prb). This consists of buff, brown and grey thin bedded fine feldspathic and labile sandstone, ferruginous sandstone, micaceous siltstone. |
Little Nathan | Gold - Copper | Cu | This prospect straddles a north-east trending fault separating arenaceous sedimentary rocks of the Lochness Formation to the north from middle Quilalar Formation units to the south. Mapping indicated much of the grid area is covered by quartzite scree, or fine alluvial sand. This effectively masked much of the potential outcrop. The basal unit mapped within the grid consisted of a white-pink felspathic quartzite, which strikes approximately north-east and dips uniformly 60 degrees to the north-west. The soil sampling delineated a low-level gold anomaly, from a low of 2.0 ppb to a maximum of 24.7 ppb over a strike length of 300 metres and width variable from 50 to 125 metres. |
Mercy | Shear/Dyke hosted Epigenetic Copper | Cu, Co | Rock-chip samples taken from a fault zone with visible quartz, pyrite and malachite. One sample went 11,000ppm and another nearby 700ppm. Not followed up by MIM Exploration |
Old Man Creek | Shear/Dyke hosted Epigenetic Copper | Cu | Consists of a west fault-bounded and folded sequence of Mt Isa Group rocks, from basal Warrina Park Quartzite to a thin sliver of Native Bee siltstone. These sedimentary rocks crop out over four kilometres of strike. Results of drainage and rock chip samples were low except for a 3,100ppm copper assay from a single rock chip sample. |
Pom Pom | Gold | Cu, Co | Confined to a fault-bound block of middle Surprise Creek Formation arenaceous sedimentary rocks. |
Unicorn | Mt Isa style | Cu-Pb-Zn | The sheared sedimentary rocks of the Quililar Formation hosts the Unicorn prospect, with several high copper and zinc rock-chip samples. |
Source: DNRME CR Numbers - 24734, 23516, 24523, 5714, 23661, 23516, 23516, 5748