Eagle Mountain to uncover porphyry-style targets at Silver Mountain with drill planning underway

Detailed drill planning in progress for both near-surface high-grade breccias and veins and deeper porphyry targets
Multiple additional geophysical targets have been identified across Silver Mountain
EM2’s team remains confident that Silver Mountain could be on the path to becoming the next major copper discovery in the Laramide Arc

Special Report: Geophysical indicators, along with mapped and sampled surface high-grade copper, silver and gold mineralisation, point to a possible large-scale porphyry system at Silver Mountain.

Eagle Mountain (ASX:EM2) is homing in on the porphyry potential of the Silver Mountain project in Arizona, USA, where multiple large, high-priority targets have been identified by new and existing geophysics work.

The project is on the Laramide Arc, a northwest-southeast trending geological feature that hosts world-class porphyry copper mines such as Freeport-McMoRan’s Bagdad and the Resolution deposit, considered one of the world’s largest untapped copper sources and owned by mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP.

Refined copper prices have slipped from their average in the June quarter of US$9750/t due to rising inventories before running higher in the past week as China revealed major stimulus measures to boost its economy.

Experts believe global consumption is forecast to grow by 2.5% and 3.2% in 2025 and 2026, setting the scene for mining juniors who are keen to take part in the red metal’s bullish long-term demand outlook.

Exploration to uncover near-surface copper

EM2’s ongoing exploration efforts at Silver Mountain aim to confirm the potential of targets and identify additional zones that could provide near-surface high-grade copper mineralisation.

Several of these near-surface targets are planned for drilling, as well as the deeper porphyry-style targets.

Field reconnaissance at the historical Silver Dollar mine adit, where proximal field sample assays included 78.6g/t gold. Pic: Eagle Mountain

The success of geophysical methods including magnetic and velocity modelling is already yielding tangible exploration results and the team remains confident that Silver Mountain could soon be on the path to becoming the next major copper discovery in the Laramide Arc.

Exploration work in July produced high-grade gold, silver and lead assay results including 64g/t gold, 445 g/t silver and 15% lead across a 0.5m vein along with evidence of porphyry-related mineralisation similar to large porphyry deposits in Arizona.

Importantly, this technical confidence has culminated in various planning activities to support future drilling, including drill permit applications and contractor tendering, are underway.

Promising targets

“We are thrilled that detailed drill planning is currently underway to test the highly prospective targets identified from recent geophysical modelling that has significantly enhanced the potential of our porphyry-style targets at Silver Mountain,” EM2 CEO Tim Mason said.

“These promising areas are characterised by elevated velocity and lowered magnetic response, similar to those found at other world-class porphyry deposits.

“These geophysical indicators, combined with mapped and sampled surface high-grade copper, silver and gold mineralisation, suggest the possibility of a large-scale porphyry-hydrothermal system at Silver Mountain.”

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.