Big copper resource upgrade paves way for Peel’s South Cobar mining studies

Strong results from drilling carried out over the last 18 months have allowed Peel to upgrade the copper-dominant resource at South Cobar to 10.6Mt at 1.85% copper.

This is part of an updated global resource of 19.75Mt at 1.09% copper, 35 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 1.63% zinc, 0.76% lead and 0.32g/t gold for a contained resource of 216,000t of copper, 322,000t zinc, 151,000t lead, 22 million ounces of silver and 204,000oz of gold, which makes for a fantastic foundation for mining studies.

It includes a lead-zinc component of 7.5Mt at 5.66% zinc+lead.

Peel Mining (ASX:PEX) says the work on Mallee Bull and Wirlong has also allowed for about 70% of this resource – including 152,000t or 77% of the contained copper – to be classified under the higher confidence Indicated category.

Indicated resources have sufficient information on geology and grade continuity to support mine planning.

“Peel has established a strong resource base at its South Cobar Project with a level of resource confidence to advance mining studies and permitting for exploration declines,” managing director Jim Simpson said.

“At Wirlong the MBX lens has delivered coherent high-grade mineralisation, and exploration drilling has confirmed it is surrounded by a broad halo of stockwork copper mineralisation, which remains open and will be subject to further exploration and definition.”

Not at all surprising when considering more recent drill results such as 82m at 2.07% copper and 5g/t silver from a down-hole depth of 425m, 15m at 6.79% copper, 19 g/t silver from 240m and 70m @ 1.72% copper and 8g/t silver from 308m.

Having a strong copper resource is also a huge ace in the company’s pocket given that demand remains strong.

South Cobar project

The company first entered the South Cobar area in 2010, drawn by the presence of world-class, high-grade, and long-life base and precious metals rich deposits as demonstrated by the CSA, Peak and Elura/Endeavor mines.

Since then, it has aggregated more than 3,000km2 of tenure and defined significant mineral systems at the Mallee Bull, Wirlong, Southern Nights-Wagga Tank and May Day deposits.

Peel has also completed more than 334km of drilling including 289km of diamond and reverse circulation drilling.

Most of the work carried out in 2022 was aimed at upgrading its copper resource particularly at Wirlong, where infill and extensional drilling results along with updated modelling has yielded a considerable improvement to that deposit’s contained copper and MRE classification.

Recent Wirlong drilling has also identified a significant halo of stockwork copper mineralisation which remains unconstrained, and which will be subject to future drilling to determine its full potential.

This article was developed in collaboration with Peel Mining, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.