Perhaps a sign of divinity itself, recent assay results at Eagle Mountain’s Oracle Ridge are showing multiple high-grade copper zones surrounded by broader, lower-grade ‘haloes’.
These ‘haloes’ refer to wide intercepts which, as the name suggests, tend to form a ring shape around higher-grade intersects.
Of note, a wide intercept of 32.6m @ 1.10% Cu, 13.34 grams per tonne (g/t) Ag and 0.18g/t Au at 0.6% Cu cut-off grade included 10.4m @ 2.12% Cu, 25.80g/t Ag and 0.35g/t Au at the North West zone.
Eagle Mountain Mining (ASX:EM2) said that if the haloes proved to be extensive they may support bulk mining and processing methods.
They’re just the icing on the cake though. The real interest is in the high-grade intercepts that include 7.6m @ 4.39% Cu, 9.10g/t Ag, 0.07g/t Au and 6.1m @ 4.31% Cu, 76.38g/t Ag, 0.58g/t Au.
The detailed maiden underground sampling and mapping program at the Arizona, US project is demonstrative of the mine’s development potential and is sending the company back to investigate how to incorporate the previously unidentified high-grade hits into its resource model for the project.
“The strong assay results from our maiden underground channel sampling program at the Oracle Ridge Project are highly significant as they support various potential scenarios for development, including bulk mining or selective high-grade mining scenarios,” Eagle Mountain CEO Tim Mason said.
“The channel sampling results indicate potential upside to the current resource model with higher-grade zones and resource extensions and we are now investigating how to model and incorporate these localised, high-grade areas that were not previously identified from wider-spaced drill hole data.”
Oracle Ridge currently has a JORC mineral resource estimate of 16.5 million tonnes (mt) at 1.45% Cu, 15.1g/t Ag and 0.19g/t Au for 240,000t contained copper, 8moz contained silver and 102Koz contained gold.
Time to get technical
Eagle Mountain said it will now be investigating resource estimation methods to show the best representation of mineralisation at Oracle Ridge.
“In addition to the underground drill results, the channel samples will help upgrade resources from Indicated to Measured and Inferred to Indicated resource categories in the North West mine zone where this work was carried out,” Mason said.
“The North West is expected to be mined early in the mine life and it’s very important that as much detail as can be defined is incorporated in the ongoing technical evaluations.
“Technical studies will increasingly feature in the development of the project with current studies in progress including mining, processing, infrastructure, environmental and tailings designs.”
A recently acquired $3 million loan facility will be used to fund the expansion of these studies to include ore sorting, heap leach test work and further mineral processing.