GreenTech spins the drills on Whundo copper-zinc cluster

GreenTech Metals excited to begin 4000m of diamond drilling towards a significant copper-zinc upgrade
Potential to see signs of a merging of deposits at untested depths
Belief the project and surroundings remain underexplored despite prime Pilbara location

Special Report: GreenTech has spun up a 4000m diamond campaign looking to make a big upgrade to its wholly owned cluster of copper-zinc deposits in the West Australian Pilbara.

GreenTech Metals (ASX:GRE) preceding campaign demonstrated the allure for a follow up, with stage 2 directed at the down plunge conductor targets holding its potential for a significantly augmented base metal resource at the Whundo project.

GreenTech executive director Tom Reddicliffe said with a host of identified and untested conductors associated with mineralised copper shoots, the company was excited to get spinning.

“The stage 2 drill program will coincide with fixed loop electromagnetic surveying and will also be supported with additional down-hole electromagnetics,” Reddicliffe said.

“I am pleased to see this activity has gotten underway in rapid time and while there will be a short break in the program during the Christmas and New Year period, our exploration activity will recommence in early January.”

The campaign will be followed by downhole surveys to assist in follow up planning, a program which could include new targets from a now-underway fixed-loop magnetic survey using modern equipment on Whundo’s previously untested depths.

Clustered commodities

The Whundo resource currently stands at 6.19Mt at 1.12% copper and 1.04% zinc, and while Western Australia is hardly the nation’s copper capital, GRE sees a highly mineralised area that remains lightly explored.

The resource is comprised of a cluster of deposits, and GreenTech not only wants to confirm consistency of thickness, grade, and mineralisation down-plunge, but to see some evidence of merging at depth.

GreenTech believes it’s a relatively intact system buried beneath the sandstone, and if it comes to mining, it will likely begin with an open pit operation.

And with some very good widths and grades in the individual deposits drilled to date, the company is also excited at the prospect of underground mining the 2km of mineralisation uncovered to date.

In a recent interview GreenTech technical advisor Julian Hanna told Stockhead that Western Australia tends to have the biggest and best of everything when it comes to mining – except copper.

Despite the Pilbara being the economic heart of the Sandgroper State, Hanna believes it remains lightly explored, with an enticing recent discovery history lending credence to a belief that projects like Whundo should have been drilled 30-40 years ago.

And Rio Tinto’s (ASX:RIO) Winu joint venture with Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining (SMM) shows that GreenTech is not alone in its conviction copper mining can hit the big stage out west.