Mount Hope Mining zeroes in on new copper targets in profilic Cobar Basin

MHM reprocesses aeromagnetic data to generate targets at Mount Hope project
The new drill targets are close to historic mines
The company is gearing up for maiden drilling

Special Report: Mount Hope Mining has reprocessed aeromagnetic data and zeroed in on highly prospective copper exploration targets at its Mount Hope project in NSW.

Cobar is one of the oldest mining centres in the state, delivering 3Mt of copper metal and over 2Moz of gold across more than 140 years of semi-continuous operations, along with significant quantities of lead, zinc and silver.

Besides MAC Copper’s (ASX:MAC) CSA copper mine – one of Australia’s highest-grade operations – and the soon-to-be restarted Endeavor silver-zinc mine of Polymetals Resources (ASX:POL), the region also hosts Aurelia Metals’ (ASX:AMI) Hera and Peak operations, and the new zinc-rich Federation mine.

And it is not just existing operations. Drilling has also yielded exciting new discoveries like Peel Mining’s (ASX:PEX) Wagga Tank and Mallee Bull polymetallic deposits and Australian Gold and Copper’s (ASX:AGC) Achilles discovery near Lake Cargelligo.

Historical mining at Mount Hope saw 75,000t of ore processed at a grade of 10.5% in an initial 41-year run from 1878 until 1919 before producing more than 4000t of the red metal in 1942 when mining ended at a depth of just 113m.

Now, the reprocessing of historic and open-file aeromagnetic datasets has generated new high-resolution magnetic images confirming a major structural framework that is likely to control the locations of gold and base metal mineralisation across the project area.

These images have improved Mount Hope Mining’s (ASX:MHM) structural interpretations for the project and allowed the company to generate drill targets.

“The completion of this aeromagnetic data reprocessing marks a significant milestone for our exploration efforts at Mount Hope,” MHM managing director and CEO Fergus Kiley said.

“The enhanced structural interpretation strengthens our understanding of the geological controls on potential mineralisation, reinforcing key exploration concepts and providing a strong foundation for our next phase of exploration.

Moving to maiden drilling

Notably, these new targets are close to existing historic mines and surface mineralisation including the Mount Hope, Comet, Great Central, Mount Solar and Mount Solitary mines – which all occur at (or proximal to) fault intersections.

“By integrating these insights with our recently commissioned ground gravity survey and soil sampling, we are leveraging a data-driven approach to refining our drill targets to unlock new exploration potential across our project portfolio,” Kiley said.

“With this groundwork in place, we are now focused on developing our 3D geological model and advancing our drill targeting strategy as we work toward planning our maiden drill program.”

The data has also highlighted several other previously unidentified prospective regions that MHM will test with soil geochemistry to determine if they are co-incident with any surface base or precious metal anomalies.

This article was developed in collaboration with Mount Hope 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.