The newly renamed Terra Metals will focus on critical minerals. Pic: Getty Images
Mining
Special Report: GCX Metals has changed its name to Terra Metals to better reflect its pivot towards critical minerals, with a focus on developing its Dante copper-PGE-gold-nickel project in WA’s West Musgrave region.
The former gold and copper hunter company turned its focus towards critical minerals after completing the acquisition of the Dante project in October last year.
Dante is surrounded by majors including one of the largest copper and nickel sulphide discoveries in recent times – BHP’s (ASX:BHP) $1.7bn, 390Mt Nebo-Babel nickel-copper-PGE project that is currently under construction.
The work being carried out by the mining giant in support of its development has also served to de-risk the region from an infrastructure and logistics perspective.
Other players exploring in the West Musgrave include Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), Caspin Resources (ASX:CPN) and Kobold Mining, a privately owned Artificial intelligence exploration company backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
The Dante project. Pic: GCX Metals/Terra Metals
Notably for Terra Metals (ASX:TM1), Dante already has an extensive historical dataset including full coverage airborne electromagnetic (EM) and magnetics, ground EM, gravity surveying, over 3500 auger drillholes, reverse circulation and diamond drilling.
This work has defined advanced large-scale magmatic copper-PGE-gold-nickel targets and PGE-gold-copper reef targets including ~23km strike of outcropping mineralisation grading an average of 1.1g/t PGE3 (platinum, palladium and gold), 1.13% V2O5, and 23.2% TiO2. Several copper rich gossans were also recently identified by the Company along the edge of the reefs.
Meanwhile, historical drilling returning a thick 310.5m intercept of disseminated copper sulphides in the same rock types that host Nebo-Babel.
The company has also uncovered the 7km-long Cronus prospect with grades of up to 3.4g/t PGE3 that is the initial target of the Phase 1 reverse circulation drilling program which it started mid-March.
The 7,000m program will also test the Crius (PGE-gold-copper), Hyperion (PGE-gold-copper), and Oceanus (PGE-gold-copper) district-scale targets that each contain a high-priority outcropping reef.
First samples from this program have already been dispatched to the laboratory for assaying and results are expected back soon.
While Dante is the primary focus for TM1, the company also owns the Southern Cross lithium project in the Yilgarn Craton, WA, and the Onslow copper-gold project.
An UltraFine soil sampling program has already revealed a large 10km by 2km lithium soil anomaly at Southern Cross that is coincident with a major fault structure and favourable geology associated with the Koolyanobbing Shear Zone.
The project is also on trend with notable major lithium resources including Mt Holland (186Mt at 1.53% Li2O) and Split Rocks (11.9Mt at 0.74% Li2O) with the company planning to accelerate follow-up soil sampling to infill the current 500m by 500m grid along the anomaly.
Onslow covers 548km2 in the northwestern extension of the Capricorn Orogen and is prospective for gold and copper.
A co-funded 1300m drill program testing three large scale IOCG targets supported by geophysics and geochemical anomalism returned extensive alteration zones.
Specialists have been engaged to undertake detailed review and logging of the geology and alteration observed in the core.
This article was developed in collaboration with Terra Metals, 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.
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