Coda drilling highlights lateral scale of Emmie Bluff

Coda Minerals (ASX:COD) has outlined the potential scale of the Emmie Bluff copper-cobalt prospect within its Elizabeth Creek project in South Australia with ongoing drilling extending the mineralised extent by up to 830m in three directions.

Results such as 2.05m at 4.09 per cent copper equivalent and 3.49m at 2.49 per cent copper equivalent have now defined the lateral extent of the Emmie Bluff mineralisation to over 4.5sqkm.

To top it off, there is still plenty of room to grow with the company noting that not only is the mineralisation open in several directions – meaning that further drilling could extend its limits – every hole collared within the Emmie Bluff conceptual exploration target to date has encountered mineralisation.

Given that Coda had previously estimated an exploration target of between 46.1Mt to 76.8Mt grading between 0.5 per cent to 2.3 per cent copper equivalent, that has the potential to be a large-scale copper-cobalt deposit.

While more drilling would be required before the company could define a resource, the potential scale compares favourably with notable copper projects such as the Capricorn mine in Queensland and Sandfire Resources’ (ASX:SFR) recently acquired T3 project in Botswana.

Emmie Bluff drilling

Chief executive officer Chris Stevens says the drill program has achieved its goal of improving confidence and coverage within the exploration target.

“We deliberately took some big swings, placing holes hundreds of metres away from known mineralisation, and we got the results we wanted, extending the mineralisation in multiple directions,” he added.

“Assays from this round of drilling, as well as from historical drilling intersections, confirm that the Emmie Bluff mineralisation occurs in flat-lying beds, typically 2-6m in thickness.

“The key to the Emmie Bluff copper-cobalt deposit is its lateral scale. The Emmie Bluff Exploration Target already covers an area over 4.5sqkm, larger than King’s Park in Perth, and it has considerable scope to expand.

“On that scale, mineralisation of this great lateral extent adds up to an impressive whole.”

Stevens highlighted Kupferschiefer in northern Europe as an example of a laterally extensive copper deposit, noting that while mineralisation rarely exceeded 60cm in thickness, its lateral extent made it one of the greatest deposits in the world.

Drilling is ongoing at Emmie Bluff with 14 holes drilled to date and another 17 expected to be completed by early March 2021.

Coda has also appointed a resource geologist to begin the work of upgrading the Emmie Bluff exploration target to a JORC 2012 resource.

This may require drilling a further four to six drill holes, which is currently planned for the second quarter.