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ASX Resources Quarterly Wrap: EM2’s Oracle Ridge restart, FAU maiden drilling, and HCH’s Costa Fuego giant
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It’s the quarterly season again as the ASX market announcements page becomes increasingly flooded with update lodgements.
To save you the trouble of trudging through it all, we’ve wrapped up the highlights from some of the (resources) reports that caught our eye.
EAGLE MOUNTAIN MINING (ASX:EM2)
This explorer continued working towards its overarching goal of restarting the Oracle Ridge copper mine in a cost effective and efficient manner with various activities including underground mapping, sampling, and technical evaluations.
Impressive drilling and channel sampling results demonstrated optionality in regard to different mining and processing methods to maximise the value of the project.
Drill core assays intersected broad mineralised zones with hits up to 19m at 2.08% copper, while channel sampling assays were generally higher than the current resource model and included results like 32.6m at 2.23% copper and 1.6m at 9.47% copper.
EM2 managing director Tim Mason says the results support the decision to undertake a new mineral resource estimate, which will not only incorporate these new results but will better reflect the style of mineralisation that is now recognised.
FIRST AU (ASX:FAU)
FAU wrapped up its first drilling campaign at the Haunted Stream gold project in Victoria during the quarter, which intersected extensive shallow gold.
Results from the first two holes returned 12.9m at 3.57g/t gold, including 7.3m at 5.1g/t gold and 1m at 2.65g/t gold, including 4.1m at 4.1g/t gold with results for holes 3, 4 and 5 expected shortly.
Final approval from the South Australian Department for Energy and Mining for Talisman Mining’s (ASX:TLM) acquisition of the Mabel Creek IOCG project was also completed
for $200,0000 in cash and $100,000 in TLM shares.
HOT CHILI (ASX:HCH)
A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) during the quarter unveiled the Costa Fuego project in Chile as one of the largest copper development projects listed on the ASX, confirming it contains the largest potential copper production in the exchange’s development pipeline.
This is at a time when the ASX is losing its significant copper-players, with Oz Minerals taken over by diversified-miner BHP and Newcrest under takeover by US-based Newmont.
From the estimated copper equivalent production rate of 112,000t per annum – consisting of 95,000t of copper and 49,000oz of gold over a 14-year period of a 16-year mine life – to the estimated revenue and free cash flow of US$13.52bn and US$3.28bn down to the post-tax net present value (a measure of profitability) of US$1.1bn, there’s nothing small about Costa Fuego.
NEW AGE EXPLORATION (ASX:NAE)
NAE’s exploration activities during the quarter were focused on its Central Pilbara lithium projects in Western Australia and its Otago Pioneer Quartz gold prospect in New Zealand.
At the Central Pilbara project, geochemical analysis was carried out and completed for the first phase of ultrafine geochemical soil surveys where multiple high priority LCT (lithium, caesium, tantalum) pegmatite targets were identified for follow up drilling.
Ongoing analysis of those results and geophysics continue with drilling operations to take place in the upcoming field season.
Meanwhile in New Zealand, results from the OPQ Shear Zone at the Central Otago gold project returned encouraging intersections, indicating the potential to discover mineralisation along the entire ~8km structure.
Results here included 6m at 1.4g/t gold from 106m, 1m at 1.9g/t gold from 161m, and 1m at 2.53g/t gold from 124m.
In the following months, diamond drilling will be evaluated against the advancement of highly prospective prospects elsewhere within NAE’s extensive portfolio such as the Manorburn and Marlborough permits.
NICKELX (ASX:NKL)
NKL was busy signing an exclusive option to acquire an advanced nickel (Rankso) and hard rock lithium (Otov) exploration project during the quarter.
The 6.92km2 Rankso nickel-copper-cobalt project, within close distance to where 27 lithium battery Gigafactories are planned for 2030 in Central Europe, contains a rich dataset for seven known sulphide deposits.
The Otov project, on the other hand, is one of 17 mapped pegmatites in the permit area which have not been the subject of modern exploration techniques.
“Should we decide to exercise the option, the company will formalise an existing exploration partnership with Aurum Discovery – a highly respected European based exploration consultancy – with in-country representation, to ensure efficient operations,” NKL MD Matt Gauci said.
VENTURE MINERALS (ASX:VMS)
Tin is now recognised as a fundamental metal to the battery revolution which is good news for Venture Metals and its Mount Lindsay tin-tungsten project in Northwest Tasmania where extensive tin-boron rich zones were unveiled during the quarter.
The tin-boron zones are in the form of borate minerals and have not previously been assessed in any mining studies at Mount Lindsay
The company believes the inclusion of tin-rich borates into the current underground feasibility study could deliver major economic benefits and is in the process of engaging hyrdo-metallurgical experts to begin the next stage of metallurgical test work.
