Eagle Mountain hooks its Talon into more high grade copper at Oracle Ridge

Eagle Mountain Mining has again demonstrated the impressive potential of its Talon zone discovery, striking a thick hit above 2% copper in upgrade drilling at the emerging ore body.

Part of the Oracle Ridge copper mine, Talon has continued to produce strong grades, with the 25m hit at 2.06% copper, 15.18g/t silver and 0.61g/t gold coming within a broader zone of 76.4m at 1.47% Cu, 11.97g/t Ag and 0.41g/t Au.

Eagle Mountain (ASX:EM2) struck the impressive intercept in a larger diameter hole, the first for a maiden metallurgical test work program at Talon designed to test the processing pathway in the Talon area.

Assays from 13 holes in the drill program are still pending, with additional infill drilling results of 13.5m at 1.32% Cu, 10.74g/t Ag and 0.19g/t Au and 4.3m at 1.85% Cu, 13.65g/t Ag and 0.18g/t Au also standing out.

It comes ahead of the start of underground drilling next month, after the refurbishment of historic underground workings at the Arizona mine.

“The results from hole WT-22-160 in the southern Talon are very pleasing as they support the strong grades and mineable thickness of mineralization in this area. These results also show strong gold assays consistent with nearby holes,” EM2 CEO Tim Mason said.

Back to the future

Eagle Mountain is now delving back into Oracle Ridge’s rich and bountiful heritage, with a drill rig currently testing extensions to the Daily and Geesaman mines.

They were some of the first operations at Oracle Ridge, active before the 1950s, with no significant drilling completed in 25 years.

EM2 wants to assess the amount of remnant mineralisation left behind by the old timers and test the potential for mineralisation to exist between the two.

Complicating matters slightly, the lowest parts of the mines are flooded and couldn’t be accessed by a drone supported underground survey, with the company now looking into underwater survey tools or geophysical techniques to define the extent of the old underground workings.

“Drilling from surface is currently focusing on prospective targets around the Daily and Geesaman mines which are entirely outside the existing JORC mineral resources,” Mason said.

Meanwhile, the underground rig is expected to mobilise to site in late November, with several underground drill stations established and more planned to allow for resource upgrade and metallurgical drilling.

Drilling from underground is expected to enhance efficiencies and allow more data to be included in future mining studies.

“Following the recent refurbishment of the underground mine, underground drilling is planned to commence in December 2022 which aims to further upgrade existing resources around the main mine area.

“Eagle Mountain remains focused on various activities to bring Oracle Ridge back into production while also testing prospective targets in the near-mine region.”

This article was developed in collaboration with Eagle Mountain 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.