The company has flagged six high-priority exploration targets at the project. Pic: via Getty Images.
Mining
New World Resources has resumed diamond drilling at its Antler copper project in Arizona, focusing on six Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) targets to be drill tested for the first time.
VMS deposits are created as a result of sea floor and sub-sea floor volcanic activity, and are commonly associated with high grades of copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver.
Importantly, VMS deposits often form in clusters.
To date, New World Resources (ASX:NWC) has completed 100% of its drilling at just a single target – the Antler VMS deposit. As New World drilled deeper and deeper, mineralisation got better and better. So there was no need to drill anywhere else.
During the past nine months, while New World has conducted mining studies, exploration at Antler was deliberately paused to ensure that further exploration expenditure is prioritised so drilling can have the maximum positive impact on potential project economics.
During this period, the company has delineated six completely undrilled high-priority VMS targets. A drilling program, to initially test these targets, has now commenced.
The diamond core rig will initially drill three holes at the Antler deposit itself to obtain baseline hydrogeological data before zeroing in the priority targets.
With exploration success at one, some, or all of these targets, the company could potentially expand its existing resource inventory and evaluate the staged expansion of the processing facility that it intends to construct at the Antler project and/or extend the life of the proposed operation.
“It is exciting to have diamond core drilling underway again at our high-grade Antler copper project, as we work to unlock the broader potential of the VMS system,” NWC MD Mike Haynes said.
“We have delineated six very high-priority targets – all of which are yet to be drill-tested.
“These targets are all in the same geological sequences that host, and are in close proximity to, numerous past-producing VMS deposits.
“Globally, VMS deposits typically occur in clusters – and that’s certainly the case in the districts we are exploring.
“So, this drilling campaign provides us with considerable opportunity to continue to discover additional VMS mineralisation and therefore potentially expand our very high-grade resource base – which currently stands at 11.4Mt at 4.1% copper-equivalent.”
The six high-priority VMS targets include the north-eastern and south-western extensions of a 1,500m+ long strong copper-in-soil geochemistry anomaly that coincides with the Antler deposit – only 600m of which has been drilled to date.
They also include multiple very strong, coincident copper-in-soil geochemistry/IP chargeability anomalies that extend over +3km of strike in the same geological sequence that hosts the Antler deposit, including the Rattlesnake Ridge, Copper Knob, Insulator; and West World prospects.
The final target is a recently discovered, very strong, 1.2km x 1.0km IP chargeability anomaly at the nearby Javelin VMS project area – which could be a potential source of satellite ore to Antler.
Considerable mineralisation has been identified at surface over this IP anomaly during recent reconnaissance mapping – with assays pending from rock-chip sampling.
NWC says the order in which these targets are tested will be refined in real-time as additional technical data comes to hand and as the prioritisation of these targets is progressively refined.
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.
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