Eagle Mountain’s Oracle Ridge resource upgrade opens path to feasibility work

Eagle Mountain has greater confidence to move forward with feasibility work at its Oracle Ridge copper project after upgrading higher confidence Measured and Indicated resources by 12%.

At the 1% copper cut-off, the company now has a Measured and Indicated Resource of 10.8Mt grading 1.5% copper, 15.23 grams per tonne (g/t) silver and 0.21g/t gold which is a 12% increase and provides a basis for additional work to further improve the confidence and knowledge of this part of the overall resource.

The Measured and Indicated Resource, which makes up the majority of the overall resource of 16.5Mt at 1.45% copper, 15.1g/t silver and 0.19g/t gold, will also form the backbone of future mining studies.

While certainly encouraging, recent results from drilling in the southern and eastern Talon areas have already highlighted the potential for Eagle Mountain Mining (ASX:EM2) to further increase resources.

Notable results from this drilling – most of which are located outside the current resource envelope – are 11.9m grading 2.94% copper, 42.6g/t silver and 0.49g/t gold including 3.3m at 7% copper, 98g/t silver and 1.01g/t gold and 19.1m at 2.23% copper, 34.1g/t silver and 0.43g/t gold including 9.3m at 3.63% copper, 59.6g/t silver and 0.76g/t gold.

Resource infill drilling has also been successful with hole WT-21-153 in the southern Talon area returning a 6.5m hit at 2.32% copper, 34.15g/t silver and 0.71g/t gold.

“The updated resource was based on 14% more holes compared to the previous resources and this resulted in a 12% upgrade to resources in the Measured and Indicated categories,” chief executive officer Tim Mason said.

“While additional discoveries did not ‘backfill’ the combined impact of the upgraded inferred tonnes and the updated geological model, it has vastly improved our understanding of the mineralisation which will assist in future drill targeting.

“Underground mine activities including refurbishment of part of the existing 18 kilometre underground workings are well underway.”

Mason added that the latest drill results were pleasing as they demonstrate ongoing resource expansion potential with strong grades and minable thicknesses.

“The southern Talon zone is also showing higher gold grades offering a potential increase in by-product credits in a bulk copper-silver-gold concentrate, similar to what was previously produced on site,” he noted.

“While progressing with various aspects of pre-feasibility study works, we also plan to continue improving and expanding our mineral resources. Results like these show the opportunity to discover additional mineralisation at Oracle Ridge on the pathway to become a significant potential copper producer.“

Resource upgrade

The resource upgrade followed the addition of 95 new diamond holes drilled since the last update in March 2022.

Specifically, the effectiveness of the 27 drill holes designed to move Inferred material to the Indicated category have provided further confidence to progress feasibility work on the project.

This work has also identified 4km of mineralisation exposure underground that will be mapped and sampled with an initial focus on material in the Measured and Indicated categories.

New drill results

Meanwhile, the new drill results provide further confidence for additional mineralisation to be discovered at Oracle Ridge while supporting the potential of Talon as an exciting and evolving discovery.

The results are supported by the recently updated geological model, which will assist in the definition of new resource expansion targets in the mine area.

Assays are pending for a further 13 holes and drilling is ongoing with a surface diamond drill rig in and around the historical Daily mine where no resource has been defined.

Drill targets have also been established around the historical Geesaman mine which is also outside the existing mineral Resource.

To assist with moving Oracle Ridge towards feasibility work, Eagle Mountain is recommissioning the existing underground mine which provides valuable access to mineralisation in the drives for metallurgical testwork and optimisation of the processing plant.

Additionally, drill stations are being established to enable underground diamond drilling to further upgrade the resources to higher confidence categories, which will further de-risk a restart of the project.

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.