Duke raises $8m as drilling intersects visible copper at Quorn

Domestic and international investors are backing Duke and its string of copper exploration success by subscribing for a $8m share placement.

This comes just days after the company noted that all planned reverse circulation exploration holes drilled at the Quorn copper prospect in Queensland had intersected visible mineralisation in stacked mineralised zones.

Up to 53m widths of copper sulphide mineralisation have been logged in Quorn exploration holes from the surface to a vertical depth of 200m over a length of 400m and a width of 200m.

Notably, the results confirm that Quorn has the potential to be significantly larger than Duke Exploration’s (ASX:DEX) already sizeable Mt Flora project.

Along with the successes at Mt Flora, it is not surprising that the investors subscribed for 22.2 million shares priced at 36c each to raise $8m for further resource and infill drilling, metallurgical and mining studies at Mt Flora, and other activity.

Existing shareholders will also be offered the opportunity to participate in a $3m share purchase plan.

Managing director Philip Condon said the results to date that will lead to a maiden JORC resource at Mt Flora by the end of this month and the discovery of numerous other high probability targets identified across the Bundarra project area gives Duke the confidence to proceed with an expanded development program over the next 12 to 18 months.

“The objectives of the new program are primarily to continue with the strategy of resource development and exploration drill testing of new resource targets,” he noted.

“We are very confident that the advanced geochemical and geophysical techniques that were trialled and refined at Mt Flora can directly detect copper and silver mineralisation around the contact and within the Bundarra pluton from the surface to a depth of 300m.

“We expect to rapidly add to the 103 targets mapped to date as we generate these regional datasets over the 50km2 area of the Bundarra pluton.

“The top 20 targets have been mapped and prioritised for exploration that will potentially lead to development of additional resource at Bundarra.”

Quorn exploration

The intersection of visible copper in stacked mineralised zones with widths up to 53m at the Quorn conductive anomalies provides more evidence that 3D induced polarisation work can directly map the presence of copper and silver mineralisation in the region around the Bundarra pluton contact at the surface and to a depth of around 300m.

Condon notes that the results from the three hole program hints that the Quorn exploration target listed in the company’s prospectus could be met and exceeded.

The conceptual exploration target was previously estimated at between 2 million and 4.3 million tonnes grading between 0.3 per cent and 0.6 per cent copper, 10 grams per tonne (g/t) to 15g/t silver and 0.2g/t to 0.3g/t gold.

Down hole data is being acquired to improve Duke’s understanding of the geometry and controls on the mineralisation, which will allow the company to plan pattern drilling for resource development at Quorn.

Future activity

The drill rig is moving to test the pole-dipole conductive and chargeability anomaly south of Absolon that is the largest and most depth-extensive conductivity anomaly mapped at Bundarra to date.

This anomaly has never been tested before and could result in the discovery of a new style of mineralisation at Bunderra.

With the proceeds from the placement, Duke also plans to carry out regional exploration using its direct detection techniques to generate additional targets for development, start exploration drilling at Prairie Creek, and drill new targets.

This article was developed in collaboration with Duke Exploration, 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.