Cohiba advances deep IOCG drilling in BHP’s backyard

Cohiba has drilled down nearly 800m in its hunt for an Olympic Dam-size iron oxide copper gold target (IOCG) in South Australia, building anticipation it could be drilling towards something big.

Cohiba Minerals (ASX:CHK) is confident it is drilling in the right location to potentially uncover the next big IOCG deposit not far from BHP’s (ASX:BHP) large Olympic Dam copper mine in the highly prospective Gawler Craton.

“The company is pleased to be making excellent progress with the follow up hole (HWDD05) at Horse Well and believes it will provide strong supporting evidence that it is drilling in close proximity to an IOCG system,” CEO Andrew Graham said.

“A larger scale drilling program at Horse Well is in direct response to the results to date and the extensive follow up work undertaken by the company’s IOCG experts.

“The company remains committed to the Horse Well area as a prime IOCG target zone.”

Cohiba is undertaking a multi-million-dollar exploration campaign in the Gawler Craton after drilling at its Horse Well prospect in March encountered rock types typical of an IOCG environment and returned high grades of up to 12.15 per cent copper.

Exploration so far has uncovered multiple targets in close proximity to Olympic Dam and OZ Minerals’ (ASX:OZL) $1bn Carrapateena copper-gold mine.

Next significant IOCG explorer

Cohiba’s goal is to become a significant explorer for IOCG deposits in the Gawler Craton.

IOCG deposits, like Olympic Dam, can be tremendously large, high grade, and simple-to-process concentrations of copper, gold and other economic minerals.

Olympic Dam is one of the world’s largest deposits of copper, gold, and uranium. These things are company makers.

And Cohiba recently added to its highly prospective Gawler Craton exploration portfolio with the acquisition of the Warriner Creek project, which is an attractive, low-risk option for the company.

Under the farm-in with Tigers Dominion Group, Cohiba can earn a 51% stake in the 346sq.km project.

Graham said Cohiba believes the Warriner Creek project is a strategic addition to the current project portfolio in South Australia.

“We remain committed to becoming a significant explorer for IOCG deposits in the Gawler Craton.”

Once Cohiba has finished drilling the additional deep hole at Horse Well, it will move onto Pernatty C.

“This drilling will be immediately followed up with the long-awaited drill holes at Pernatty C, which will test for both Zambian Copperbelt (ZCB) style mineralisation and a deeper IOCG target,” Graham said.

This article was developed in collaboration with Cohiba Minerals, 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.