New World eyes gold upside at Arizona copper mine

New World Resources finds new gold zone outside of Antler copper resource
Project’s mineable inventory, economic returns and funding options could all benefit
Resource update expected near term with DFS due end of 2025

Special Report: New World Resources has spotted gold rich mineralisation outside the existing 11.4Mt at 4.1% copper-equivalent resource at its Antler project in Arizona during a geological review.

Already hosting one of the highest-grade copper deposits in the world (on a copper-equivalent basis), additional discovery at Antler could potentially extend the life of the mining operation and/or result in a larger production profile.

Both would enhance the already very robust economics at Antler, New World Resources (ASX:NWC) says.

Sampling of the new alteration zone has revealed elevated gold grades over 550m of strike and 1000m dip extent, (all of which falls outside the current mine plan) and best intercepts of:

7m at 2.03g/t, 3.95m at 1.53g/t, and 1.85m at 0.68g/t
1.17m at 7.53g/t; and
4.35m at 1.84g/t and 2.5m at 2.28g/t.

The company released a pre-feasibility study for the project last year which outlined a US$298 million operation to produce 30,100 tonnes per annum of copper equivalent at C1 costs of just US12c per pound after co-product credits over 12.2 years with a post-tax net present value of US$498 million and an internal rate of return of 30.3%.

And since this new zone is close to planned underground mining infrastructure development, it will be included in the resource update expected in the coming months along with the definitive feasibility study which will be completed in Q4 2025.

Resource boost and exploration upside

NWC managing director Nick Woolrych said the new zone opens up both new exploration targets and resource expansion potential.

“As Antler rapidly proceeds to development, the identification of significant gold mineralisation within the stringer zone at Antler represents an exciting potential new source of value for the company,” he said.

“The ongoing work at the Antler copper project continues to generate positive results, highlighting the project’s significant exploration upside.

“The company remains committed to advancing the project through systematic exploration and evaluation alongside permitting and financing, with the goal of unlocking its full value as we finalise feasibility studies in 2025 and proceed to production in 2027.”

The company is currently undertaking further work to define the extent, continuity and grade of the gold mineralisation, and how any such mineralisation may be included in future mine plans.

Additional alteration zone assays will be reported in Q1 2025 when assays are completed.

This article was developed in collaboration with New World Resources, 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.