Shares in junior explorer Archer surged as high as 26 per cent on Wednesday following news of a copper discovery at the company’s North Broken Hill project.

Archer Exploration (ASX:AXE) discovered two new large copper targets, 20km north of Broken Hill, in addition to their existing project at Blue Hills.

AXE shares were trading at 5.8c on Wednesday, up 26 per cent. The shares closed up 20 per cent at 5.5c.

Copper prospects were found during exploration for cobalt, on part of a 459 sq km site, with several tenements still to be explored.

Chairman Greg English told Stockhead exploration would continue for most of the year, with intentions to start drilling close to the new year.

“At the moment we are finding mineralisation over a large area and while it is more expensive to explore each tenement, there is a greater chance that we are on to something big,” he said.

“We have had some great results so far, but we still have to find some broad intercepts that will warrant a mine.”

Copper rock chip samples found at the North Broken Hill site
Copper rock chip samples found at the North Broken Hill site

How much of the minerals can be extracted is not yet known but some samples have as much as 15 per cent copper.

Mr English said the potential of the region had been overlooked.

“People have been exploring Broken Hill for close to 100 years but the problem is that everyone has been looking for the next ‘Broken Hill’ and no one has focused on its copper or cobalt potential.

“When you look at a map of the drill holes it’s all lead, silver or zinc.”

Archer had $1.5 million in the bank at the end of June with an estimated outflow of $680,000 in this quarter.